Single-Ion Recycling Reactions

摘要

In the past decade, there has been a tremendous progress in gas-phase chemistry involving sympathetically cooled molecular ions. This includes experiments with single molecules, which besides having the potential to provide more detailed information than obtainable in experiments with ensembles, can be a requirement for certain types of experiments. For instance, to enter the new branch of ultracold chemistry, ultracold ion chemistry, where novel quantum effects are expected at temperatures in the micro-kelvin range, direct or sympathetic sideband laser cooling of a single or, at most, a few ions are required. In addition, for reaction experiments in this regime, an experimental method by which a single target ion can be regenerated would be extremely valuable to avoid detrimental excess micromotioninflicted by reloading in radio frequency traps.