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Published on: January 20, 2022
Identifying single molecular ions by resolved sideband measurements
James E Goeders1, Craig R Clark, Grahame Vittorini
1Schools of Chemistry and Biochemistry; Computational Science and Engineering; and Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States.
Abstract:
The masses of single molecular ions are nondestructively measured by cotrapping the ion of interest with a laser-cooled atomic ion, (40)Ca(+). Measurement of the resolved sidebands of a dipole forbidden transition on the atomic ion reveals the normal-mode frequencies of the two ion system. The mass of two molecular ions, (40)CaH(+) and (40)Ca(16)O(+), are then determined from the normal-mode frequencies. Isotopes of Ca(+) are used to determine the effects of stray electric fields on the normal mode measurement. The future use of resolved sideband experiments for molecular spectroscopy is also discussed.
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