Mainz 2026 – scientific programme
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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 30: Poster – Molecular Spectroscopy
MO 30.14: Poster
Thursday, March 5, 2026, 17:00–19:00, Philo 1. OG
Towards infrared spectroscopy of molecular ions in an electrostatic ion beam trap — •Antonia Schaffert1, Deepak Sharma1, 2, Klaus Blaum1, Oded Heber2, Thomas Henning3, Stav Knaffo2, Sunil Kumar4, Michael Rappaport2, Andreas Wolf1, Daniel Zajfman2, and Holger Kreckel1 — 1Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg — 2Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel — 3Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg — 4IISER Tirupati, India
The chemistry of complex organic molecules in interstellar space is at the forefront of molecular astrophysics [1]; however, laboratory spectroscopy with complex species is rather challenging. For complex molecular ions, in particular, no established technique exists for gas phase spectroscopy. We are developing an experimental setup to perform infrared spectroscopy of stored molecular ions using an electrostatic ion beam trap (EIBT) [2]. The molecular ions are injected into the EIBT and reflected between two electrostatic mirrors. A characterization of the beamline and first results of the dynamics of trapped ions using a room-temperature EIBT are presented in this poster. For future spectroscopy measurements a cryogenic EIBT will be installed and combined with a sensitive mid-infrared photon detector.
[1] Herbst E, Vidali G, Ceccarelli C, ACS Earth Space Chem. 4, 488 (2020)
[2] D. Zajfman et al., Phys. Rev. A 55, R1577 (1997)
Keywords: Molecular ions; Ion trap; IR Spectroscopy; Beam dynamics