Abstract
We present a study on the dissociation of a weakly bound molecular ion in the presence of an external time-dependent electric field based on a full quantum treatment of the dynamics. We focus on the dissociation dynamics of a molecular ion in a Paul trap relevant for atom-ion hybrid traps. Our results show that a weakly bound molecular ion survives in a Paul trap giving a theoretical ground to previous experimental findings [A. Krükow et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 193201 (2016) and A. Mohammadi et al., Phys. Rev. Research 3, 013196 (2021)]. In particular, we find that weakly bound molecular ions are more likely to survive in traps with a large rf frequency. Similarly, we show that applying an electric field ramp is an efficient method to state-selectively detect weakly bound molecular ions, analogous to the well-known selective field ionization technique applied in Rydberg atoms.
- Received 18 May 2021
- Revised 30 August 2021
- Accepted 31 August 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.104.L031302
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by the Max Planck Society.
Published by the American Physical Society