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Updated: May 25, 2026

Measurement of Ultrafast Vibrational Coherences in Polyatomic Radical Cations with Strong-Field Adiabatic Ionization
Published on: August 6, 2018
Light-assisted ion-neutral reactive processes in the cold regime: radiative molecule formation versus charge exchange
Felix H J Hall1, Mireille Aymar, Nadia Bouloufa-Maafa
1Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 80, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
Abstract:
We present a combined experimental and theoretical study of cold reactive collisions between laser-cooled Ca+ ions and Rb atoms in an ion-atom hybrid trap. We observe rich chemical dynamics which are interpreted in terms of nonadiabatic and radiative charge exchange as well as radiative molecule formation using high-level electronic structure calculations. We study the role of light-assisted processes and show that the efficiency of the dominant chemical pathways is considerably enhanced in excited reaction channels. Our results illustrate the importance of radiative and nonradiative processes for the cold chemistry occurring in ion-atom hybrid traps.
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