Abstract:

Low-energy ion traps, i.e. Kingdon, Penning, and Paul traps, have been used for radiative lifetime measurements of metastable levels of atomic ions for more than twenty years. Within the past ten years, applications to metastable states of molecular ions have also been explored with the technique. Originally lauded  for their ability to confine a population of ions for relatively long times and their nearly perturbation-free storage volumes, almost all of the radiative lifetime measurements of metastable states in the literature were associated with these small ion traps. Some of those measured lifetimes are now being corroborated by newer techniques: associated with Electron Beam Ion Traps (EBITs), heavy ion storage rings, and the Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS)/pulsed trap method. A few of the lifetimes measured with the low-energy traps show disagreement with newer measurement techniques. This talk will provide an overview the low-energy ion traps, their function, applications to radiative lifetime measurements, and a recent application of time-of-flight mass spectra derived from the traps.
Some comparisons with the newer, big-budget, techniques will be made..
 

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