We have studied the mutual neutralization reaction of vibronically cold NO+ with O- at a collision energy of approximate to 0.1 eV and under single-collision conditions. The reaction is completely dominated by production of three ground-state atomic fragments. We employ product-momentum analysis in the framework of a simple model, which assumes the anion acts only as an electron donor and the product neutral molecule acts as a free rotor, to conclude that the process occurs in a two-step mechanism via an intermediate Rydberg state of NO which subsequently fragments.

We have studied the stability of C₅₉ anions as a function of time, from their formation on femtosecond timescales to their stabilization on second timescales and beyond, using a combination of theory and experiments. The C^-₅₉ fragments were produced in collisions between C₆₀ fullerene anions and neutral helium gas at a velocity of 90 km s⁻¹ (corresponding to a collision energy of 166 eV in the center-of-mass frame). The fragments were then stored in a cryogenic ion beam storage ring at the DESIREE facility, where they were followed for up to 1 minute. Classical molecular dynamics simulations were used to determine the reaction cross section and the excitation energy distributions of the products formed in these collisions. We find that about 15% of the C^-₅₉ ions initially stored in the ring are intact after about 100 ms and that this population then remains intact indefinitely. This means that C₆₀ fullerenes exposed to energetic atoms and ions, such as stellar winds and shock waves, will produce stable, highly reactive products, like C₅₉, that are fed into interstellar chemical reaction networks.

We measured the product-state distribution and its dependence on the hydrogen isotope for the mutual neutralization between ¹⁶O⁺ and ^1,2H⁻ at the double electrostatic ion-beam storage ring DESIREE for center-of-mass collision energies below 100 meV. We find at least six product channels into ground-state hydrogen and oxygen in different excited states. The majority of oxygen products populate terms corresponding to 2⁢𝑠²2⁢𝑝³⁢(⁴𝑆^∘)⁢4⁢𝑠 with ⁵S^∘ as the main reaction product. We also observe product channels into terms corresponding to 2⁢𝑠²2⁢𝑝³⁢(⁴𝑆)⁢3⁢𝑝. Collisions with the heavier hydrogen isotope yield a branching into these lower excited states smaller than collisions with ¹H⁻. The observed reaction products agree with the theoretical predictions. The detailed branching fractions, however, differ between the theoretical results, and none of them fully agree with the experiment.

Mutual neutralization of hydronium (H₃O⁺) and hydroxide (OH⁻) ions is a very fundamental chemical reaction. Yet, there is only limited experimental evidence about the underlying reaction mechanisms. Here, we report three-dimensional imaging of coincident neutral products of mutual-neutralization reactions at low collision energies of cold and isolated ions in the cryogenic double electrostatic ion-beam storage ring (DESIREE). We identified predominant H2O + OH + H and 2OH + H₂ product channels and attributed them to an electron-transfer mechanism, whereas a minor contribution of H₂O + H₂O with high internal excitation was attributed to proton transfer. The reported mechanism-resolved internal product excitation, as well as collision-energy and initial ion-temperature dependence, provide a benchmark for modeling charge-transfer mechanisms. 

We have studied the stability of the smallest long-lived all carbon molecular dianion () in new time domains and with a single ion at a time using a cryogenic electrostatic ion-beam storage ring. We observe spontaneous electron emission from internally excited dianions on millisecond timescales and monitor the survival of single colder molecules on much longer timescales. We find that their intrinsic lifetime exceeds several minutes—6 orders of magnitude longer than established from earlier experiments on . This is consistent with our calculations of vertical electron detachment energies predicting one inherently stable isomer and one isomer which is stable or effectively stable behind a large Coulomb barrier for →+e⁻ separation.

In this work we perform the first demonstration of gear-changing in a real world collider. Gear-changing refers to a collision scheme where each ring of a collider stores a different harmonic number of bunches. These bunches are kept synchronized using different velocities. Such a system has been theorized, but has now been demonstrated using the Double ElectroStatic Ion Ring ExpEriment (DESIREE) in Stockholm Sweden. The experiment was able to demonstrate a gear-changing system, with both four on three bunches and five on four bunches. We determined a measurable parameter that shows a gear-changing system out to 37500 turns of the slow beam (1 s). We were also able to detect a measurable longitudinal beam-beam interaction. We developed insights into how to control this type of system, opening up new possibilities, and showing that DESIREE can be used for gear-changing research.

Negative ions are important in many areas of science and technology, e.g., in interstellar chemistry, for accelerator-based radionuclide dating, and in anti-matter research. They are unique quantum systems where electron-correlation effects govern their properties. Atomic anions are loosely bound systems, which with very few exceptions lack optically allowed transitions. This limits prospects for high-resolution spectroscopy, and related negative-ion detection methods. Here, we present a method to measure negative ion binding energies with an order of magnitude higher precision than what has been possible before. By laser-manipulation of quantum-state populations, we are able to strongly reduce the background from photodetachment of excited states using a cryogenic electrostatic ion-beam storage ring where keV ion beams can circulate for up to hours. The method is applicable to negative ions in general and here we report an electron affinity of 1.461 112 972(87) eV for ¹⁶O.

Spontaneous and photo-induced decay processes of HfF₅⁻ and WF₅⁻ molecular anions were investigated in the Double ElectroStatic Ion Ring ExpEriment (DESIREE). The observation of these reactions over long time scales (several tens of ms) was possible due to the cryogenic temperatures (13 K) and the extremely low residual gas pressure (∼10⁻¹⁴ mbar) of DESIREE. For photo-induced reactions, laser wavelengths in the range 240 to 450 nm were employed. Both anion species were found to undergo spontaneous decay via electron detachment or fragmentation. After some ms, radiative cooling processes were observed to lower the probability for further decay through these processes. Photo-induced reactions indicate the existence of an energy threshold for WF₅⁻ anions at about 3.5 eV, above which the neutralization yield increases strongly. By contrast, HfF₅⁻ ions exhibit essentially no enhanced production of neutrals upon photon interaction, even for the highest photon energy used in this experiment (∼5.2 eV). This suppression will be highly beneficial for the efficient detection, in accelerator mass spectrometry, of the extremely rare isotope ¹⁸²Hf using the ¹⁸²HfF₅⁻ anion while effectively reducing the interfering stable isobar ¹⁸²W in the analyte ion ¹⁸²WF₅⁻. The radionuclide ¹⁸²Hf is of great relevance in astrophysical environments as it constitutes a potential candidate to study the events of nucleosynthesis that may have taken place in the vicinity of the solar system several million years ago.

We present experimental final-state distributions for Mg atoms formed in Mg++D− mutual neutralization reactions at center-of-mass collision energies of 59±12  meV by using the merged-beams method. Comparisons with available full-quantum results reveal large discrepancies and a previously underestimated total rate coefficient by up to a factor of 2 in the 0–1 eV (<104  K) regime. Asymptotic model calculations are shown to describe the process much better and we recommend applying this method to more complex iron group systems; data that is of urgent need in stellar spectral modeling.

The double ion storage ring DESIREE has been used in combination with position- and time-sensitive detectors to study the mutual neutralization of N⁺ with O⁻ at 40 meV collision energy. Several previously unassigned spectral features observed in a recent single-pass merged-beams experiment at 7 meV collision energy [Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 083401 (2018)], were also observed in the present experiment. It was found that neutralization channels of the first metastable state of the cation [N⁺(¹D),τ≈256s] could explain the majority of these features, while the second metastable state [N⁺(¹S),τ≈0.9s] was not found to contribute significantly. The branching ratios into the different electronically excited states of N were determined and found to be in good agreement between the two experiments. Theoretical calculations using the multichannel Landau-Zener model were found to yield good results for a number of channels, but could not describe some observed contributions, possibly due to the presence of other processes not accounted for in the model.