José L. Doménech

A cryogenic 22-pole ion trap apparatus is used in combination with a table-top pulsed IR source to probe weakly bound CH$^+$-He and CH$^+$-He$_4$ complexes by predissociation spectroscopy at 4 K. The infrared photodissociation spectra of the C-H stretching vibrations are recorded in the range of 2720-2800 cm$^{-1}$. The spectrum of CH$^+$-He exhibits perpendicular transitions of a near prolate top with a band origin at 2745.9 cm$^{-1}$, and thus confirms it to have a T-shaped structure. For CH$^+$-He$_4$, the C-H stretch along the symmetry axis of this oblate top results in parallel transitions.

The fundamental 28SiH+ ion has been characterized in a collaborative work, utilizing a hollow-cathode-discharge laser-spectrometer and a cryogenic ion trap spectrometer. Twenty-three vibration-rotation transitions around 4.75 um have been detected with high accuracy. This has facilitated the first direct measurement of the pure rotational transition J=1<-0 at 453056.3632(4) MHz in the trap spectrometer. The measured and accurately predicted transitions enable the search for this ion in space with IR and sub-mm telescopes.