A cold-chemistry laboratory on a chip : microtraps for ultracold molecular ions

• Research unit: COST
• Project number: C11.0035

Key words (English)

Ion traps; laser cooling; sympathetic cooling; cold chemistry; cold molecules

Research programs (English)

COST-Action MP1001 - Ion Traps for Tomorrow's Applications

Short description (English)

The present project aims at developing a flexible, compact, microstructured trapping device on a chip carrier for the sympathetic cooling of molecular ions to millikelvin temperatures. Guided by an already performed comprehensive theoretical modeling of the ion dynamics, a complete experimental toolbox for the generation, cooling, characterization and internal-state control of molecular ions in microtraps will be established. The versatility of such a micro-trap for ultracold molecular ions will be demonstrated by proof-of-principle applications as a microstructured chemical reactor for ion-molecule reactions and a miniaturized mass spectrometer for single molecular ions. These developments will form the basis for future advanced applications such as realizing microtrapping networks for quantuminformormation processing experiments with ultracold molecular ions, implementing networks of ion guides and traps on a microchip to perform sequential or highly parallelized experiments and for combining microtraps with cold-neutral traps to study ultracold chemical reactions with state-selected, sympathetically-cooled molecular ions. The project will be realized in close collaboration with partner groups in the COST Action making use of collaborative COST elements such as shortterm scientific missions (STSMs) and knowledge transfer by interactions in the network conferences, workgroup meetings and training schools.

Partners and International Organizations (English)

AT, BE, CH, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, IL, IT, PL, PT, RO, UK

Abstract (English)

The present project aimed at developing a flexible, compact, microstructured trapping device on a chip carrier for the sympathetic cooling of molecular ions to millikelvin temperatures. A complete experimental toolbox for the generation, cooling, characterization and internal-state control of molecular ions in microtraps has been established. The versatility of such a micro-trap for ultracold molecular ions has been demonstrated by proof-of-principle applications as a microstructured chemical reactor for ion-molecule reactions and a miniaturized mass spectrometer for cold molecular ions. These developments will form the basis for future advanced applications such as realizing microtrapping networks for quantum-informormation processing experiments with ultracold molecular ions, implementing networks of ion guides and traps on a microchip to perform sequential or highly parallelized experiments and for combining microtraps with cold-neutral traps to study ultracold chemical reactions with state-selected, sympathetically-cooled molecular ions.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: COST-DB of the State Secretariat for Education and Research Hallwylstrasse 4 CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland Tel. [phone] Swiss Project-Number: C11.0035