Abstract
An experimental capability being developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Multi-Charged Ion Research Facility (ORNL MIRF) is described that enables stored cooling and
state characterization of atomic and molecular ions of essentially any mass. Ions selected from a
variety of available (hot and cold) sources are injected into a 1.5 meter long electrostatic mirror
trap, in which excited internal states decay by radiative cooling. Ion lifetime studies or direct
measurements of ‘in-trap’ interactions of molecular ions with electrons or atomic targets are
accomplished with either a crossed electron beam or atomic beam (with recoil ion detection)
located in the field-free region of the ion-trap, coupled with product velocity imaging. Similarly,
extraction of trap-cooled ions can be used ‘out-of-trap’ for near state-specific electron capture
(EC) and dissociative charge exchange (DCE) studies employing higher resolution COLTRIMS
techniques coupled with fragment imaging.
