Here we will briefly describe the commissioning of the Double ElectroStatic Ion Ring ExpEriment (DESIREE) facility at Stockholm University, Sweden. This device uses purely electrostatic focussing and deflection elements and allows ion beams of opposite charge to be confined under extreme high vacuum and cryogenic conditions in separate rings and then merged over a common straight section. This apparatus allows for studies of interactions between cations and anions at very low and well-defined centre-of-mass energies (down to a few meV) and at very low internal temperatures (down to a few K).

We use a novel electrostatic ion storage ring to measure the radiative lifetime of the upper level in the 3p 5  P 2  o 1/2 →3p 5  P 2  o 3/2   spontaneous radiative decay in S −  32   to be 503±54  sec . This is by orders of magnitude the longest lifetime ever measured in a negatively charged ion. Cryogenic cooling of the storage ring gives a residual-gas pressure of a few times 10 −14   mbar at 13 K and storage of 10 keV sulfur anions for more than an hour. Our experimental results differ by 1.3σ  from the only available theoretical prediction.

This thesis is mainly concerned with investigations of spontaneous radiatively decaying states in both negative and positive singly charged ions. When possible, the measured lifetime of the state has been combined with branching fractions in order to derive the absolute transition probability (A-value) between different quantum states. The radiative transition probability between two quantum states is a fundamental atomic property. Knowledge of this property can be used as a diagnostic tool in, for example, abundance and temperature determinations with applications in many fields, e.g. astronomy, plasma physics, atomic physics etc.

The focus of the experiments has been on lifetime measurements of long-lived metastable states. Lifetimes of long-lived metastable states are interesting in both theoretical aspects as well as the challenge it poses to the experimentalist. To perform such experiments, impact from the surrounding environment on the stored ions has to be kept to a minimum for extended periods of time. The metastable lifetimes presented here have been measured with time-resolved laser spectroscopic techniques in two different types of ion storage rings. One of them is a new type of unique cryogenically cooled storage ring made of purely electrostatic ion optical elements. As is demonstrated in this thesis, this device opens up a completely new time domain where lifetime measurements now can be performed. In addition, this thesis includes a discussion and preliminary studies of weak interactions otherwise limited by magnetic fields and/or thermal radiation from the environment. When available, the results have been compared to previous measurements and theoretical calculations which enables an evaluation of different methods and theoretical models.

We report on the ongoing commissioning of the Double ElectroStatic Ion Ring ExpEriment, DESIREE, at Stockholm University. Beams of atomic carbon anions (C-) and smaller carbon anion molecules (C-2(-), C-3(-), C-4(-) etc.) have been produced in a sputter ion source, accelerated to 10 keV or 20 keV, and stored successfully in the two electrostatic rings. The rings are enclosed in a common vacuum chamber cooled to below 13 Kelvin. The DESIREE facility allows for studies of internally relaxed single isolated atomic, molecular and cluster ions and for collision experiments between cat-and anions down to very low center-of-mass collision energies (meV scale). The total thermal load of the vacuum chamber at this temperature is measured to be 32 W. The decay rates of stored ion beams have two components: a non-exponential component caused by the space charge of the beam itself which dominates at early times and an exponential term from the neutralization of the beam in collisions with residual gas at later times. The residual gas limited storage lifetime of carbon anions in the symmetric ring is over seven minutes while the 1/e lifetime in the asymmetric ring is measured to be about 30 seconds. Although we aim to improve the storage in the second ring, the number of stored ions are now sufficient for many merged beams experiments with positive and negative ions requiring milliseconds to seconds ion storage.

We have stored the first beams in one of the rings of the double electrostatic ion-storage ring, DESIREE at cryogenic and at room temperature conditions. At cryogenic operations the following parameters are found. Temperature; T= 13K, pressure; p <10(-13) mbar, initial number of stored ions; N > 10(7) and storage lifetime of a C-2(-) beam; tau = 450 S.

We report lifetime measurements of the five levels in the 3d(4)(a(5)D)5s e(6)D term in Cr II at an energy around 83 000 cm(-1), and log(gf) values for 38 transitions from the investigated levels. The lifetimes are obtained using time-resolved, laser-induced fluorescence on ions from a laser-produced plasma. Since the levels have the same parity as the low-lying states directly populated in the plasma, we used a two-photon excitation scheme. This process is greatly facilitated by the presence of the 3d(4)(a(5)D)4p z(6)F levels at roughly half the energy difference. The f-values are obtained by combining the experimental lifetimes with branching fractions derived using relative intensities from a hollow cathode lamp recorded with a Fourier transform spectrometer.

This paper presents new experimentally determined branching fractions and oscillator strengths (log gf) for lines originating from 17 levels belonging to 5 terms of the first excited odd configuration 4d(7)(D-4) 5p in Rh II. The intensity calibrated spectra of Rh II have been recorded with a Fourier transform spectrometer between 25000 and 45000 cm(-1) (2200-4000 angstrom). In this region, 49 lines have been identified and measured. By combining the branching fractions obtained from the spectra with previously measured lifetimes, log gf values are reported. The new results are compared with previous theoretical work.

We report on the first storage of ion beams in the Double ElectroStatic Ion Ring ExpEriment, DESIREE, at Stockholm University. We have produced beams of atomic carbon anions and small carbon anion molecules (C-n(-), n = 1, 2, 3, 4) in a sputter ion source. The ion beams were accelerated to 10 keV kinetic energy and stored in an electrostatic ion storage ring enclosed in a vacuum chamber at 13 K. For 10 keV C-2(-) molecular anions we measure the residual-gas limited beam storage lifetime to be 448 s +/- 18 s with two independent detector systems. Using the measured storage lifetimes we estimate that the residual gas pressure is in the 10(-14) mbar range. When high current ion beams are injected, the number of stored particles does not follow a single exponential decay law as would be expected for stored particles lost solely due to electron detachment in collision with the residual-gas. Instead, we observe a faster initial decay rate, which we ascribe to the effect of the space charge of the ion beam on the storage capacity.

Parity forbidden radiative transitions from metastable levels are observed in spectra of low-density astrophysical plasmas. These lines are used as probes of the physical conditions, made possible due to the long lifetime of their upper level. In a joint effort, the FERRUM project aims to obtain new and accurate atomic data for the iron-group elements, and part of this project concerns forbidden lines. The radiative lifetimes of the metastable energy levels 3 d4(a 3 D)4 s c4 D 5/2 and 3 d4(a 3 D)4 s c4 D 7/2 of singly ionized chromium have been measured. The experiment has been performed at the ion storage ring CRYRING. We employed a laser-probing technique developed for measuring long lifetimes. In this article, we present the lifetimes of these levels to be t5/2= 1.28(16) s and t7/2= 1.37(7) s, respectively. A comparison with previous theoretical work shows good agreement and the result is discussed in a theoretical context.

We describe the design of a novel type of storage device currently under construction at Stockholm University, Sweden, using purely electrostatic focussing and deflection elements, in which ion beams of opposite charges are confined under extreme high vacuum cryogenic conditions in separate rings and merged over a common straight section. The construction of this double electrostatic ion ring experiment uniquely allows for studies of interactions between cations and anions at low and well-defined internal temperatures and centre-of-mass collision energies down to about 10 K and 10 meV, respectively. Position sensitive multi-hit detector systems have been extensively tested and proven to work in cryogenic environments and these will be used to measure correlations between reaction products in, for example, electron-transfer processes. The technical advantages of using purely electrostatic ion storage devices over magnetic ones are many, but the most relevant are: electrostatic elements which are more compact and easier to construct; remanent fields, hysteresis, and eddy-currents, which are of concern in magnetic devices, are no longer relevant; and electrical fields required to control the orbit of the ions are not only much easier to create and control than the corresponding magnetic fields, they also set no upper mass limit on the ions that can be stored. These technical differences are a boon to new areas of fundamental experimental research, not only in atomic and molecular physics but also in the boundaries of these fields with chemistry and biology. For examples, studies of interactions with internally cold molecular ions will be particular useful for applications in astrophysics, while studies of solvated ionic clusters will be of relevance to aeronomy and biology.