ISA Wednesday 22nd July 2009

In the last few years the development of electrostatic traps, where fast beams of ions are captured over long periods, has made groundbreaking experiments into the study of molecular systems possible. With the construction of the worlds first electrostatic storage ring ELISA at Aarhus University in 1997, a new area of research opened up into the photo-physics of bio-molecules in the gas phase.

In June 2009 Lars H. Andersen, Henrik B. Pedersen and Steen B. Nielsen were awarded 3.7M DKK from the Danish Natural Science Research Council for the construction of a new specialised electrostatic storage ring for the study of photo-physics of molecular ions, which will utilise the new synchrotron radiation source from ASTRID2.

Molecular ions are produced in a dedicated ion source at high voltage and then accelerated to ground potential, producing an intense, well-defined, beam of fast ions. The ion beam is separated according to their mass when passing through a homogeneous magnetic field, allowing ions of a specific type to be selected. The molecular ions are then accumulated and cooled in a RF ion trap, before being injected into the electrostatic storage ring. Once in the storage ring the ions interact with either a crossed or parallel photon beam from lasers, storage rings and free-electron lasers at DESY or from ASTRID2. Specialised detectors will register the production of photoelectrons and heavy fragments, such as atomic and molecular fragments, as a result of the interaction.

Last Modified 22 July 2009