arXiv subjects

Manfred Grieser

Publications and source records attributed to Manfred Grieser.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Surrogate neutron-capture studies with fission detection in inverse kinematics at the ESR storage ring

The NECTAR (Nuclear rEaCTions At storage Rings) experiment at the ESR heavy-ion storage ring at GSI/FAIR Darmstadt is dedicated to surrogate reaction studies of neutron-induced reactions on heavy nuclei in inverse kinematics. In this work, we report on the implementation and performance of a newly developed fission-fragment detection system integrated into the NECTAR experimental setup. The upgraded detector configuration enables, for the first time in a surrogate experiment, the simultaneous detection ofgamma-decay residues, multi-neutron-emission residues, and fission fragments. The full setup was used for the first time in an experiment where a stored beam of bare 238U92+ ions at 17.24 MeV/u interacted with a gas-jet deuterium target, populating excited 238U and 239U nuclei via the 238U(d,d') and 238U(d,p) reactions. We describe the geometry of the used fission fragment detectors, design constraints, and simulation-based efficiency determination. The target-like particle identification and beam-like residue spectra demonstrating the performance of the complete setup are also shown.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2024

Dissociative recombination of rotationally cold ArH$^+$

We have experimentally studied dissociative recombination (DR) of electronically and vibrationally relaxed ArH$^+$ in its lowest rotational levels, using an electron--ion merged-beams setup at the Cryogenic Storage Ring. We report measurements for the merged-beams rate coefficient of ArH$^+$ and compare it to published experimental and theoretical results. In addition, by measuring the kinetic energy released to the DR fragments, we have determined the internal state of the DR products after dissociation. At low collision energies, we find that the atomic products are in their respective ground states, which are only accessible via non-adiabatic couplings to neutral Rydberg states. Published theoretical results for ArH$^+$ have not included this DR pathway. From our measurements, we have also derived a kinetic temperature rate coefficient for use in astrochemical models.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2024

Unimolecular processes in diatomic carbon anions at high rotational excitation

On the millisecond to second time scale, stored beams of diatomic carbon anions C$_2{}^-$ from a sputter ion source feature unimolecular decay of yet unexplained origin by electron emission and fragmentation. To account for the magnitude and time dependence of the experimental rates, levels with high rotational and vibrational excitation are modeled for the lowest electronic states of C$_2{}^-$, also including the lowest quartet potential. Energies, spontaneous radiative decay rates (including spin-forbidden quartet-level decay), and tunneling dissociation rates are determined for a large number of highly excited C$_2{}^-$ levels and their population in sputter-type ion sources is considered. For the quartet levels, the stability against autodetachment is addressed and recently calculated rates of rotationally assisted autodetachment are applied. Non-adiabatic vibrational autodetachment rates of high vibrational levels in the doublet C$_2{}^-$ ground potential are also calculated. The results are combined to model the experimental unimolecular decay signals. Comparison of the modeled to the experimental rates measured at the Croygenic Storage Ring (CSR) gives strong evidence that C$_2{}^-$ ions in quasi-stable levels of the quartet electronic states are the so far unidentified source of unimolecular decay.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2024

Autodetachment of diatomic carbon anions from long-lived high-rotation quartet states

Highly excited C$_2{}^{-}$ ions prominently feature electron detachment at a mean decay time near 3 milliseconds with hitherto unexplained origin. Considering various sources of unimolecular decay, we attribute the signal to the electronic C$^4\Sigma^+_u$ state. Quartet C$_2{}^{-}$ levels are found to be stabilized against autodetachment by high rotation. Time constants of their rotationally assisted autodetachment into levels opening energetically at lower rotation are calculated by a theory based on the non-local resonance model. For some final levels of significantly less rotation the results conclusively explain the puzzling observations.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2023

Dissociative Recombination of Rotationally Cold OH$^+$ and Its Implications for the Cosmic Ray Ionization Rate in Diffuse Clouds

Observations of OH$^+$ are used to infer the interstellar cosmic ray ionization rate in diffuse atomic clouds, thereby constraining the propagation of cosmic rays through and the shielding by interstellar clouds, as well as the low energy cosmic ray spectrum. In regions where the H$_2$ to H number density ratio is low, dissociative recombination (DR) is the dominant destruction process for OH$^+$ and the DR rate coefficient is important for predicting the OH$^+$ abundance and inferring the cosmic ray ionization rate. We have experimentally studied DR of electronically and vibrationally relaxed OH$^+$ in its lowest rotational levels, using an electron--ion merged-beams setup at the Cryogenic Storage Ring. From these measurements, we have derived a kinetic temperature rate coefficient applicable to diffuse cloud chemical models, i.e., for OH$^+$ in its electronic, vibrational, and rotational ground level. At typical diffuse cloud temperatures, our kinetic temperature rate coefficient is a factor of $\sim 5$ times larger than the previous experimentally derived value and a factor of $\sim 33$ times larger than the value calculated by theory. Our combined experimental and modelling results point to a significant increase for the cosmic ray ionization rate inferred from observations of OH$^+$ and H$_2$O$^+$, corresponding to a geometric mean of $(6.6 \pm 1.0) \times 10^{-16}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$, which is more than a factor of two larger than the previously inferred values of the cosmic ray ionization rate in diffuse atomic clouds. Combined with observations of diffuse and dense molecular clouds, these findings indicate a greater degree of cosmic ray shielding in interstellar clouds than has been previously inferred.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

Experimental determination of the dissociative recombination rate coefficient for rotationally-cold CH$^{+}$ and its implications for the diffuse cloud chemistry

Observations of CH$^+$ are used to trace the physical properties of diffuse clouds, but this requires an accurate understanding of the underlying CH$^+$ chemistry. Until this work, the most uncertain reaction in that chemistry was dissociative recombination (DR) of CH$^+$. Using an electron-ion merged-beams experiment at the Cryogenic Storage Ring, we have determined the DR rate coefficient of the CH$^+$ electronic, vibrational, and rotational ground state applicable for different diffuse cloud conditions. Our results reduce the previously unrecognized order-of-magnitude uncertainty in the CH$^+$ DR rate coefficient to $\sim \pm 20\%$ and are applicable at all temperatures relevant to diffuse clouds, ranging from quiescent gas to gas locally heated by processes such as shocks and turbulence. Based on a simple chemical network, we find that DR can be an important destruction mechanism at temperatures relevant to quiescent gas. As the temperature increases locally, DR can continue to be important up to temperatures of $ \sim 600\,\mathrm{K} $ if there is also a corresponding increase in the electron fraction of the gas. Our new CH$^+$ DR rate coefficient data will increase the reliability of future studies of diffuse cloud physical properties via CH$^+$ abundance observations.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2022

Laser-probing the rotational cooling of molecular ions by electron collisions

We present state-selected measurements of rotational cooling and excitation rates of CH$^+$ molecular ions by inelastic electron collisions. The experiments are carried out at the Cryogenic Storage Ring, making use of a monoenergetic electron beam at matched velocity in combination with state-sensitive laser-dissociation of the CH$^+$ ions for simultaneous monitoring of the rotational level populations. Employing storage times of up to 600 s, we create conditions where electron-induced cooling to the $J = 0$ ground state dominates over radiative relaxation, allowing for the experimental determination of inelastic electron collision rates to benchmark state-of-the-art theoretical calculations. On a broader scale, our experiments pave the way to probe inelastic electron collisions for a variety of molecular ions relevant in various plasma environments.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2016

The Cryogenic Storage Ring CSR

An electrostatic cryogenic storage ring, CSR, for beams of anions and cations with up to 300 keV kinetic energy per unit charge has been designed, constructed and put into operation. With a circumference of 35 m, the ion-beam vacuum chambers and all beam optics are in a cryostat and cooled by a closed-cycle liquid helium system. At temperatures as low as (5.5 $\pm$ 1) K inside the ring, storage time constants of several minutes up to almost an hour were observed for atomic and molecular, anion and cation beams at an energy of 60 keV. The ion-beam intensity, energy-dependent closed-orbit shifts (dispersion) and the focusing properties of the machine were studied by a system of capacitive pickups. The Schottky-noise spectrum of the stored ions revealed a broadening of the momentum distribution on a time scale of 1000 s. Photodetachment of stored anions was used in the beam lifetime measurements. The detachment rate by anion collisions with residual-gas molecules was found to be extremely low. A residual-gas density below 140 cm$^{-3}$ is derived, equivalent to a room-temperature pressure below 10$^{-14}$ mbar. Fast atomic, molecular and cluster ion beams stored for long periods of time in a cryogenic environment will allow experiments on collision- and radiation-induced fragmentation processes of ions in known internal quantum states with merged and crossed photon and particle beams.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2015

An Efficient, Movable Single-Particle Detector for Use in Cryogenic Ultra-High Vacuum Environments

A compact, highly efficient single-particle counting detector for ions of keV/u kinetic energy, movable by a long-stroke mechanical translation stage, has been developed at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, MPIK). Both, detector and translation mechanics, can operate at ambient temperatures down to $\sim$ 10 K and consist fully of ultra-high vacuum (UHV) compatible, high-temperature bakeable and non-magnetic materials. The set-up is designed to meet the technical demands of MPIK's Cryogenic Storage Ring (CSR). We present a series of functional tests that demonstrate full suitability for this application and characterise the set-up with regard to its particle detection efficiency.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2010

Resonant structure of low-energy H3+ dissociative recombination

New high-resolution dissociative recombination rate coefficients of rotationally cool and hot H3+ in the vibrational ground state have been measured with a 22-pole trap setup and a Penning ion source, respectively, at the ion storage ring TSR. The experimental results are compared with theoretical calculations to explore the dependence of the rate coefficient on ion temperature and to study the contributions of different symmetries to probe the rich predicted resonance spectrum. The break-up energy was investigated by fragment imaging to derive internal temperatures of the stored parent ions under differing experimental conditions. A systematic experimental assessment of heating effects is performed which, together with a survey of other recent storage-ring data, suggests that the present rotationally cool rate-coefficient measurement was performed at 380^{+50}_{-130} K and that this is the lowest rotational temperature so far realized in storage-ring rate-coefficient measurements on H3+. This partially supports the theoretical suggestion that higher temperatures than assumed in earlier experiments are the main cause for the large gap between the experimental and theoretical rate coefficients. For the rotationally hot rate-coefficient measurement a temperature of below 3250K is derived. From these higher-temperature results it is found that increasing the rotational ion temperature in the calculations cannot fully close the gap between the theoretical and experimental rate coefficients.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2000

Enhanced dielectronic recombination of lithium-like Ti19+ ions in external ExB fields

Dielectronic recombination(DR) of lithium-like Ti19+(1s2 2s) ions via 2s->2p core excitations has been measured at the Heidelberg heavy ion storage ring TSR. We find that not only external electric fields (0 <= Ey <= 280 V/cm) but also crossed magnetic fields (30 mT <= Bz <= 80 mT) influence the DR via high-n (2p_j nl)-Rydberg resonances. This result confirms our previous finding for isoelectronic Cl14+ ions [Bartsch T et al, PRL 82, 3779 (1999)] that experimentally established the sensitivity of DR to ExB fields. In the present investigation the larger 2p_{1/2}-2p_{3/2} fine structure splitting of Ti19+ allowed us to study separately the influence of external fields via the two series of Rydberg DR resonances attached to the 2s -> 2p_{1/2} and 2s -> 2p_{3/2} excitations of the Li-like core, extracting initial slopes and saturation fields of the enhancement. We find that for Ey > 80 V/cm the field induced enhancement is about 1.8 times stronger for the 2p_{3/2} series than for the 2p_{1/2} series.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2000

Dielectronic recombination of lithium-like Ni25+ ions - high resolution rate coefficients and influence of external crossed E and B fields

Absolute dielectronic recombination (DR) rates for lithium-like Ni$^{25+}$($1s^2 2s$) ions were measured at high-energy resolution at the Heidelberg heavy-ion storage ring TSR. We studied the center-of-mass energy range 0--130 eV which covers all $Δn$=0 core excitations. The influence of external crossed electric (0--300 V/cm) and magnetic (41.8--80.1 mT) fields was investigated. For the measurement at near-zero electric field resonance energies and strengths are given for Rydberg levels up to n$=$32; also Maxwellian plasma rate coefficients for the $Δn$=0 DR at electron temperatures between 0.5 and 200 eV are provided. For increasing electric field strength we find that for both the $2p_{1/2}$ and the $2p_{3/2}$ series of Ni$^{24+}$($1s^2 2p_j n\ell$) Rydberg resonances with n>30 the DR rate coefficient increases approximately linearly by up to a factor of 1.5. The relative increase due to the applied electric field for Ni$^{25+}$ is remarkably lower than that found in previous measurements with lighter isoelectronic Si$^{11+}$, Cl$^{14+}$ and also Ti$^{19+}$ ions, [T. Bartsch et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 79}, 2233 (1997); {\bf 82}, 3779 (1999) and to be published] and in contrast to the results for lighter ions no clear dependence of the electric field enhancement on the magnetic field strength is found. The Maxwellian plasma rate coefficients for $Δn$=0 DR of Ni$^{25+}$ are enhanced by at most 11% in the presence of the strongest experimentally applied fields.

physics.atom-ph↗