We present an all-optical mass spectrometry technique to identify trapped ions. The new method uses laser-cooled ions to determine the mass of a cotrapped dark ion with a sub-dalton resolution within a few seconds. We apply the method to identify the first controlled synthesis of cold, trapped RaOH^{+} and RaOCH_{3}^{+}.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report on the design, commissioning, and initial measurements of a Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) x-ray spectrometer for the Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Over the past few decades, the NIST EBIT has produced numerous studies of highly charged ions in diverse fields such as atomic physics, plasma spectroscopy, and laboratory astrophysics. The newly commissioned NIST EBIT TES Spectrometer (NETS) improves the measurement capabilities of the EBIT through a combination of high x-ray collection efficiency and resolving power.
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