D B Qian

A Progress Report of 320 kV Multi-discipline Research Platform for Highly Charged Ions

A dedicated platform for multi-disciplinary research with highly charged ions has been constructed, and an all-permanent magnet ECR ion source was built and installed in the beamline. Five experimental terminals are established for interdisciplinary Research. The high voltage supplied to the platform has reached 320 kV. The commissioning of the platform is successful, different ion beams have been provided for experimental studies, and the current status will be reported.

High negative ion production yield in 30 keV F2+ + adenine (C5H5N5) collisions

In collisions between slow F2+ ions (30 keV) and molecular targets, adenine, scattered particle production yields have been measured directly by simultaneous detection of neutrals, positive and negative ions. The relative cross-section for a negative ion formation channel was measured to be 1%. Despite a slight decrease compared to a larger target, the fullerene C60, the measured negative ion formation cross section is still at least one order of magnitude larger than the yield in ion–atom interactions.

New insight into power-law behavior of fragment size distributions in the C60 multifragmentation regime

Previous experimental work has shown that a phase transition in C60 multifragmentation induced by nanosecond laser occurs at almost constant temperature covering a wide range of laser fluency. Here the relative yields of ionic fragments (IFs) C(n)(+) (n = 1-20) resulting from the multifragmentation are measured within the phase transition region. By excluding two small IFs and magic IFs due to their abnormal behavior, the data for residual IFs are used to estimate the size distributions of primary intermediate-mass IFs in the multifragmentation regime. The distributions are found to obey power laws n(-τ). Furthermore, the exponent τ values have sensitive dependence on lower laser fluency and converge to a constant of about 2.4 ± 0.2 for larger fluencies. These observations are in good agreement with an explanation based on the Fisher droplet model, offering the tantalizing possibility of a liquid-to-gas phase transition in C60 systems.

A newly built setup for small bio-molecule fragmentation study in Lanzhou

A new setup for studying ion induced small bio-molecule fragmentation processes has been built in Lanzhou, China. A preliminary collision experiment between a 30 keV He2+ ion beam and gas phase adenine molecules was performed. Partial TOF spectra associated to well-defined scattered projectile final charge states, He+ or He0 were recorded. Coincidence spectra between fragments were also obtained.

Progress of highly charged atomic physics at IMP

The progress of atomic physics researches at the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) is reviewed, covering the studies on ion-atom/molecule collisions, ion-cluster interaction, negative ion formation, state-selective electron capture studied by COLTRIMS, as well as the progress of a new experimental area dedicated for atomic researches at moderate energies, and the advances of the cooler storage rings at the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL). New opportunities to study collision dynamics from femto-second to atto-second regime are opened based on the present facilities and the on-going projects.

Time-resolved photoion imaging spectroscopy: Determining energy distribution in multiphoton absorption experiments

We propose an approach to determine the excitation energy distribution due to multiphoton absorption in the case of excited systems following decays to produce different ion species. This approach is based on the measurement of the time-resolved photoion position spectrum by using velocity map imaging spectrometry and an unfocused laser beam with a low fluence and homogeneous profile. Such a measurement allows us to identify the species and the origin of each ion detected and to depict the energy distribution using a pure Poissons equation involving only one variable which is proportional to the absolute photon absorption cross section. A cascade decay model is used to build direct connections between the energy distribution and the probability to detect each ionic species. Comparison between experiments and simulations permits the energy distribution and accordingly the absolute photon absorption cross section to be determined. This approach is illustrated using C60 as an example. It may therefore be extended to a wide variety of molecules and clusters having decay mechanisms similar to those of fullerene molecules.

Investigation of fragmentation dynamics of nitrogen dimers by collisions with highly charged ions

Synopsis The fragmentation dynamics of nitrogen molecule dimers have been studied by using highly charged Ne8+ ions at impact energy of 1.0 MeV. For its three-body fragmentation, three fragmentation mechanisms have been identified by analyzing Dalitz plot and Newton diagram of the momenta of three fragment ions. The sequential dissociation of covalent first breakdown is quite surprising in contrast to the fragmentation of triatomic molecule.

Fragmentation dynamics of meso-tetraphenyl iron (III) porphyrin chloride dication under energy control

Meso-tetraphenyl iron (III) porphyrin chloride dications (FeTPPCl2+)* were prepared in collisions with F+ and H+ at 3 keV. The dominant fragmentation channels were observed to involve the loss of the Cl atom and the successive loss of neutral phenyl groups for both collisional systems. The mass spectra in correlation with the deposited excitation energy distributions of the parent ions for the main fragmentation channels were measured by using the collision induced dissociation under energy control method. The global excitation energy distribution was found to be shifted to lower energies in collisions with H+ compared to collisions with F+ showing a noteworthy change of the excitation energy window using different projectile ions. Partial excitation energy distributions of the parent ions FeTPPCl2+ were obtained for each fragmentation group. In a theoretical work, we have calculated the dissociation energies for the loss of one and two phenyl groups, including phenyl and (phenyl ± H). The energy barrier for the hydrogen atom transfer during the loss of (phenyl-H) has been also calculated. The measured energy difference for the successive loss of two phenyl groups was compared with the theoretical values.

Signature of Single Binary Encounter in Intermediate Energy He2＋-Ar Collisions

We experimentally observe the signature of electron emission resulting from a single binary encounter mechanism in the intermediate collision energy regime of 30 keV/u He2+ on argon. Electron emission spectra in the transfer ionization are obtained and compared with classical calculations from a two-step model considering the initial electron velocity and re-scattering of the binary encounter electron in the recoil potential. Although the present reaction is actually a four-body problem, the model starting from a binary encounter gives out surprisingly good agreement with the experimental data. Our studies show that orbital velocities of the electron affect the emission patterns of ionized electrons significantly.

Kinematically complete experiment for ionization-excitation of helium

We present a newly built reaction microscope for electron induced ionization-excitation of helium. Kinematically complete measurement with 2p state excitation is achieved by detecting the radiated photon, one electron and the He+ ion in the final state in triple coincidence. Near threshold behavior of the ionization- excitation to 2p state is investigated.