Merged-Beams Study of the Reaction of Cold HD^{+} with C Atoms Reveals a Pronounced Intramolecular Kinetic Isotope Effect.

We present a merged-beams study of reactions between HD^{+} ions, stored in the Cryogenic Storage Ring (CSR), and laser-produced ground-term C atoms. The molecular ions are stored for up to 20 s in the extreme vacuum of the CSR, where they have time to relax radiatively until they reach their vibrational ground state (within 0.5 s of storage) and rotational states with J≤3 (after 5 s).

Selective Tumor Hypoxia Targeting Using M75 Antibody Conjugated Photothermally Active MoO Nanoparticles.

Photothermal therapy (PTT) mediated at the nanoscale has a unique advantage over currently used cancer treatments, by being spatially highly specific and minimally invasive. Although PTT combats traditional tumor treatment approaches, its clinical implementation has not yet been successful. The reasons for its disadvantage include an insufficient treatment efficiency or low tumor accumulation.

Near-thermo-neutral electron recombination of titanium oxide ions.

While the dissociative recombination (DR) of ground-state molecular ions with low-energy free electrons is generally known to be exothermic, it has been predicted to be endothermic for a class of transition-metal oxide ions. To understand this unusual case, the electron recombination of titanium oxide ions (TiO) with electrons has been experimentally investigated using the Cryogenic Storage Ring. In its low radiation field, the TiO ions relax internally to low rotational excitation (≲100 K).

Isochronous mass spectrometry in an electrostatic storage ring.

For sensitive studies of molecular ions in electrostatic storage rings, the exact knowledge of the isobaric composition of stored beams from a variety of ion sources is essential. Conventional mass-filtering techniques are often inefficient to resolve the beam components. Here, we report the first isochronous mass spectrometry in an electrostatic storage ring, which offers a high mass resolution of Δm/m < 1 × 10 even for heavy molecular species with m > 100 u and uncooled ion beams.

Laser Probing of 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 a 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.

Targeting acute myeloid leukemia cells by CD33 receptor-specific MoS-based nanoconjugates.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a highly aggressive type of cancer caused by the uncontrolled proliferation of undifferentiated myeloblasts, affecting the bone marrow and blood. Systemic chemotherapy is considered the primary treatment strategy; unfortunately, healthy cells are also affected to a large extent, leading to severe side effects of this treatment. Targeted drug therapies are becoming increasingly popular in modern medicine, as they bypass normal tissues and cells.

A bioconjugated MoS based nanoplatform with increased binding efficiency to cancer cells.

We evaluate the application of surfactant-free liquid-phase exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets as a nanoplatform for a cancer detection and treatment system equipped with an antibody-antigen based recognition element. Employing antigen-antibody binding, we increased the probability of the endocytosis of MoS2 nanosheets into CAIX expressing cells by 30%. The nanosheets are functionalized with a specific antibody M75, which forms an antigen-antibody complex with CAIX.

Dissociative recombination of NH ions with electrons in the temperature range of 80-350 K.

Recombination of NH ions with electrons was studied using a stationary afterglow with a cavity ring-down spectrometer. We probed in situ the time evolutions of number densities of different rotational and vibrational states of recombining NH ions and determined the thermal recombination rate coefficients for NH in the temperature range of 80-350 K. The newly calculated vibrational transition moments of NH are used to explain the different values of recombination rate coefficients obtained in some of the previous studies.

Quantum-state-selective electron recombination studies suggest enhanced abundance of primordial HeH.

The epoch of first star formation in the early Universe was dominated by simple atomic and molecular species consisting mainly of two elements: hydrogen and helium. Gaining insight into this constitutive era requires a thorough understanding of molecular reactivity under primordial conditions. We used a cryogenic ion storage ring combined with a merged electron beam to measure state-specific rate coefficients of dissociative recombination, a process by which electrons destroy molecular ions.

Tailored Langmuir-Schaefer Deposition of Few-Layer MoS Nanosheet Films for Electronic Applications.

Few-layer MoS films stay at the forefront of current research of two-dimensional materials. At present, continuous MoS films are prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques. Herein, we present a cost-effective fabrication of the large-area spatially uniform films of few-layer MoS flakes using a modified Langmuir-Schaefer technique.

Towards state selective recombination of H under astrophysically relevant conditions.

We present studies on the thermalisation of H3+ ions in a cold He/Ar/H2 plasma at temperatures 30-70 K. We show that we are able to generate a rotationally thermalised H3+ ensemble with a population of rotational and nuclear spin states corresponding to a particular ion translational temperature. By varying the para-H2 fraction used in the experiment we are able to produce para-H3+ ions with fractional populations higher than those corresponding to thermodynamic values.

Stationary afterglow apparatus with CRDS for study of processes in plasmas from 300 K down to 30 K.

A cryogenic stationary afterglow apparatus equipped with a near-infrared cavity-ring-down-spectrometer (Cryo-SA-CRDS) for studies of electron-ion recombination processes in the plasma at temperatures 30-300 K has been designed, constructed, tested, and put into operation. The plasma is generated in a sapphire discharge tube that is contained in a microwave cavity. The cavity and the tube are attached to the second stage of the cold head of the cryocooler system, and they are inserted to an UHV chamber with mirrors for CRDS and vacuum windows on both ends of the tube.

Binary and ternary recombination of H2D(+) and HD2(+) ions with electrons at 80 K.

The recombination of deuterated trihydrogen cations with electrons has been studied in afterglow plasmas containing mixtures of helium, argon, hydrogen and deuterium. By monitoring the fractional abundances of H3(+), H2D(+), HD2(+) and D3(+) as a function of the [D2]/[H2] ratio using infrared absorption observed in a cavity ring down absorption spectrometer (CRDS), it was possible to deduce effective recombination rate coefficients for H2D(+) and HD2(+) ions at a temperature of 80 K. From pressure dependences of the measured effective recombination rate coefficients the binary and the ternary recombination rate coefficients for both ions have been determined.

Flowing-afterglow study of electron-ion recombination of para-H3(+) and ortho-H3(+) ions at temperatures from 60 K to 300 K.

Detailed measurements employing a combination of a cryogenic flowing afterglow with Langmuir probe (Cryo-FALP II) and a stationary afterglow with near-infrared absorption spectroscopy (SA-CRDS) show that binary electron recombination of para-H3(+) and ortho-H3(+) ions occurs with significantly different rate coefficients, (p)αbin and (o)αbin, especially at very low temperatures. The measurements cover temperatures from 60 K to 300 K. At the lowest temperature of 60 K, recombination of para-H3(+) is at least three times faster than that of ortho-H3(+) ((p)αbin=(1.