Max H. Berg

Chemical probing spectroscopy of H3+ above the barrier to linearity

We have performed chemical probing spectroscopy of H(3) (+) ions trapped in a cryogenic 22-pole ion trap. The ions were buffer gas cooled to approximately 55 K by collisions with helium and argon. Excitation to states above the barrier to linearity was achieved by a Ti:sapphire laser operated between 11 300 and 13 300 cm(-1). Subsequent collisions of the excited H(3) (+) ions with argon lead to the formation of ArH(+) ions that were detected by a quadrupole mass spectrometer with high sensitivity. We report the observation of 17 previously unobserved transitions to states above the barrier to linearity. Comparison to theoretical calculations suggests that the transition strengths of some of these lines are more than five orders of magnitude smaller than those of the fundamental band, which renders them-to the best of our knowledge-the weakest H(3) (+) transitions observed to date.

COLD ELECTRON REACTIONS PRODUCING THE ENERGETIC ISOMER OF HYDROGEN CYANIDE IN INTERSTELLAR CLOUDS

Using event-by-event fragment momentum spectroscopy in a storage-ring merged-beams experiment, we find laboratory evidence that in the dissociative recombination (DR) of HCNH{sup +} with cold electrons the energetic isomer HNC is produced with a high yield, similar to that of HCN. With a newly implemented mass-sensitive fragment imaging detector, we analyze the kinetic energy release of the triatomic fragments DCN/DNC from the DR reaction of the isotopologue DCND{sup +} with cold (near 10 K) electrons. The results show that the internal energy of these fragments is extremely high, far exceeding the isomerization barrier between DNC and DCN. From this laboratory characterization of the DR reaction we conclude that also the triatomic fragment HCN/HNC from the DR of HCNH{sup +} will carry a large amount of ro-vibrational excitation and show that this implies an isomeric production ratio in a narrow range near unity.

The low-temperature nuclear spin equilibrium of H3+ in collisions with H2

Recent observations of H2 and H+ 3 in diffuse interstellar sightlines revealed a difference in the nuclear spin excitation temperatures of the two species. This discrepancy comes as a surprise, as H+ 3 and H2 should undergo frequent thermalizing collisions in molecular clouds. Non-thermal behavior of the fundamental H+ 3/H2 collision system at low temperatures was considered as a possible cause for the observed irregular populations. Here, we present measurements of the steady-state ortho/para ratio of H+ 3 in collisions with H2 molecules in a temperature-variable radiofrequency ion trap between 45 and 100 K. The experimental results are close to the expected thermal outcome and they agree very well with a previous micro-canonical model. We briefly discuss the implications of the experimental results for the chemistry of the diffuse interstellar medium.

Fragmentation Channels in Dissociative Electron Recombination with Hydronium and Other Astrophysically Important Species

We report on our recent studies of dissociative recombination (DR) employing two different fragment imaging detection techniques at the TSR storage ring in Heidelberg, Germany. Principles of an upgraded 3D optical system and the new energy-sensitive multistrip detector (EMU) are explained together with possible applications in reaction dynamics studies. With the EMU imaging detector we succeeded to observe the branching ratios after DR of deuterated hydronium ions D(3)O(+) at energies of 0-0.5 and 4-21 eV. The branching ratios are almost constant at low energies while above 6 eV both oxygen-producing channels O + D + D + D and O + D(2) + D strongly increase and dominate by about 85% at 11 eV. To demonstrate further capabilities of our fragment imaging detectors, we also summarize some of our additional recent studies on DR of molecular ions important for astrophysics as well as for fundamental unimolecular dynamics.

Energy-sensitive imaging detector applied to the dissociative recombination of D2H+

We report on an energy-sensitive imaging detector for studying the fragmentation of polyatomic molecules in the dissociative recombination of fast molecular ions with electrons. The system is based on a large area (10x10 cm{sup 2}) position-sensitive, double-sided Si-strip detector with 128 horizontal and 128 vertical strips, whose pulse height information is read out individually. The setup allows us to uniquely identify fragment masses and is thus capable of measuring branching ratios between different fragmentation channels, kinetic energy releases, and breakup geometries as a function of the relative ion-electron energy. The properties of the detection system, which has been installed at the Test Storage Ring (TSR) facility of the Max-Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, is illustrated by an investigation of the dissociative recombination of the deuterated triatomic hydrogen cation D{sub 2}H{sup +}. A huge isotope effect is observed when comparing the relative branching ratio between the D{sub 2} + H and the HD + D channel; the ratio 2B(D{sub 2} + H)/B(HD + D), which is measured to be 1.27{+-}0.05 at relative electron-ion energies around 0 eV, is found to increase to 3.7{+-}0.5 at {approx}5 eV.

Communication: Visible line intensities of the triatomic hydrogen ion from experiment and theory

The visible spectrum of H3(+) is studied using high-sensitivity action spectroscopy in a cryogenic radiofrequency multipole trap. Advances are made to measure the weak ro-vibrational transitions from the lowest rotational states of H3(+) up to high excitation energies providing visible line intensities and, after normalisation to an infrared calibration line, the corresponding Einstein B coefficients. Ab initio predictions for the Einstein B coefficients are obtained from a highly precise dipole moment surface of H3(+) and found to be in excellent agreement, even in the region where states have been classified as chaotic.

Electron collisions and rovibrational action spectroscopy of cold H3+ molecules

Electron recombination of H3+ has found a lot of attention due to its outstanding relevance for the chemistry of the interstellar medium (ISM) and its role as a benchmark for the treatment of dissociative recombination (DR) of polyatomic ions. We report DR measurements performed at the TSR storage ring utilizing a cryogenic ion trap injector. Furthermore, a chemical probing spectroscopy technique is described that allows for a very sensitive monitoring of the populated states inside the ion injector. Since H3+ exists in two different nuclear spin modifications, a controlled manipulation of the ortho/para fraction is needed in order to perform state-selective measurements.

Spectroscopy and dissociative recombination of the lowest rotational states of H+3

The dissociative recombination of the lowest rotational states of H3+ has been investigated at the storage ring TSR using a cryogenic 22-pole radiofrequency ion trap as injector. The H3+ was cooled with buffer gas at ~15 K to the lowest rotational levels, (J, G)=(1,0) and (1,1), which belong to the ortho and para proton-spin symmetry, respectively. The rate coefficients and dissociation dynamics of H3+(J, G) populations produced with normal-and para-H2 were measured and compared to the rate and dynamics of a hot H3+ beam from a Penning source. The production of cold H3+ rotational populations was separately studied by rovibrational laser spectroscopy using chemical probing with argon around 55 K. First results indicate a ~20% relative increase of the para contribution when using para-H2 as parent gas. The H3+ rate coefficient observed for the para-H2 source gas, however, is quite similar to the H3+ rate for the normal-H2 source gas. The recombination dynamics confirm that for both source gases, only small populations of rotationally excited levels are present. The distribution of 3-body fragmentation geometries displays a broad part of various triangular shapes with an enhancement of ~12% for events with symmetric near-linear configurations. No large dependences on internal state or collision energy are found.

Visible transitions from ground state H3+ measured with high-sensitivity action spectroscopy

We report on the recent observation of new spectral lines of cold H ions lying well in the visible spectral region. Transitions from the two lowest ro–vibrational levels to final levels up to 16 700 cm−1, almost half way to the dissociation limit, have been measured, involving up to eight vibrational quanta. The observed transitions are more than six orders of magnitude less intense than the fundamental band and yet another order of magnitude weaker than reached by previous sensitive action spectroscopy in the near-infrared region. The measurements were carried out in a cryogenic 22-pole ion trap with H ions cooled to their lowest rotational levels by helium buffer gas. Laser-induced chemical reactions lead to the formation of ArH+ ions detected with single-ion sensitivity. These visible measurements, together with the previous near-infrared measurements, have helped to further develop empirically corrected calculations and have provided essential benchmarks for new ab initio calculations that now reach a spectroscopic accuracy of 0.1 cm−1 on average up to the highest observed transition. Highly sensitive action spectroscopy and the attained high-accuracy predictions will enable us to find and measure transitions even further into the visible region of H, paving the way towards the dissociation limit.

Ultraviolet and Visible Light Photodissociation of H3+ in an Ion Storage Ring

Ultraviolet and visible photodissociation of a vibrationally excited H(3)(+) ion beam, as produced by standard ion sources, was successfully implemented in an ion storage ring with the aim of investigating the decay of the excited molecular levels. A collinear beams configuration was used to measure the photodissociation of H(3)(+) into H(2)(+) + H fragments by transitions into the first excited singlet state with 266 and 532 nm laser beams. A clear signal could be observed up to 5 ms of storage, indicating that enough highly excited rovibrational states survive on the millisecond time scale of the experiment. The decay into H(2)(+) + H shows an effective time constant between about 1 and 1.5 ms. The initial photodissociating states are estimated to lie roughly 1 eV below the dissociation limit of 4.4 eV. The expected low population of these levels gives rise to an effective cross section of several 10(-20) cm(2) for ultraviolet and some 10(-21) cm(2) for visible light. For using multistep resonant dissociation schemes to monitor rotational populations of cold H(3)(+) in low-density environments, these measurements open promising perspectives.