S. De

Helium nanodroplets ("HNDs") are widely used for forming tailor-made clusters and molecular complexes in a cold, transparent, and weakly-interacting matrix. Characterization of embedded species by mass spectrometry is often complicated by fragmentation and trapping of ions in the HNDs. Here, we systematically study fragment ion mass spectra of HND-aggregated water and oxygen clusters following their ionization by charge transfer ionization ("CTI") and Penning ionization ("PEI"). While the efficiency of PEI of embedded clusters is lower than for CTI by about factor 10, both the mean sizes of detected water clusters and the relative yields of unprotonated cluster ions are significantly larger, making PEI a ``soft ionization'' scheme. However, the tendency of ions to remain bound to HNDs leads to a reduced detection efficiency for large HNDs containing $>10^4$ helium atoms. These results are instrumental for determining optimal conditions for mass spectrometry and photoionization spectroscopy of molecular complexes and clusters aggregated in HNDs.

We propose a new ion-trap geometry to carry out accurate measurements of the quadrupole shifts in the $^{171}$Yb-ion. This trap will produce nearly ideal harmonic potential where the quadrupole shifts due to the anharmonic components can be reduced by four orders of magnitude. This will be useful to reduce the uncertainties in the clock frequency measurements of the $6s~{^2}S_{1/2} \rightarrow 4f^{13} 6s^2 ~{^2}F_{7/2}$ and $6s~{^2}S_{1/2} \rightarrow 5d ~{^2}D_{3/2}$ transitions, from which we can deduce precise values of the quadrupole moments ($Θ$s) of the $4f^{13} 6s^2 ~{^2}F_{7/2}$ and $5d ~{^2}D_{3/2}$ states. Moreover, it may be able to affirm validity of the measured $Θ$ value of the $4f^{13} 6s^2 ~{^2}F_{7/2}$ state where three independent theoretical studies defer almost by one order in magnitude from the measurement. We also perform calculations of $Θ$s using the relativistic coupled-cluster (RCC) method. We use these $Θ$ values to estimate quadrupole shift that can be measured in our proposed ion trap experiment.

The projected systematic uncertainties of single trapped Ytterbium-ion optical frequency standards are estimated for the quadrupole and octupole transitions which are at wavelengths 435.5 nm and 467 nm, respectively. Finite temperature of the ion and its interaction with the external fields introduce drift in the measured frequency compared to its absolute value. Frequency shifts due to electric quadrupole moment, induced polarization and excess micromotion of the ion depend on electric fields, which are estimated in this article. Geometry of the trap electrodes also result in unwanted electric fields which have been considered in our calculation. Magnetic field induced shift and Stark shifts due to electro-magnetic radiation at a surrounding temperature are also estimated. At CSIR-NPL, we are developing a frequency standard based on the octupole transition for which the systematic uncertainties are an order of magnitude smaller than that using the quadrupole transition, as described here.

The structures for the TRI$μ$P facility have been completed and commissioned. At the facility radioactive nuclides are produced to study fundamental interactions and symmetries. An important feature is the possibility to trap radioactive atoms in order to obtain and hold a pure substrate-free sample for precision measurements. In the TRI$μ$P facility a production target is followed by a magnetic separator, where radioactive isotopes are produced in inverse reaction kinematics. Separation up to 99.95% could be achieved for $^{21}$Na. A novel transmitting thermal ionizing device was developed to stop the energetic isotopes. Some 50% of stopped $^{21}$Na could be extracted and transported as low energy singly charged ions into a radio frequency quadrupole cooler and buncher with 35% transmission efficiency. The ions are transported lossless via a drift tube and a low energy electrostatic beam line into the experimental setup. Such ions can be neutralized on hot metal foils and the resulting atoms can be stored in a magneto-optical trap. The functioning of that principle was demonstrated with stable Na extracted from the thermal ionizer, radioactive beams will follow next.

The Tri$μ$P facility at KVI is dedicated to provide short lived radioactive isotopes at low kinetic energies to users. It comprised different cooling schemes for a variety of energy ranges, from GeV down to the neV scale. The isotopes are produced using beam of the AGOR cyclotron at KVI. They are separated from the primary beam by a magnetic separator. A crucial part of such a facility is the ability to stop and extract isotopes into a low energy beamline which guides them to the experiment. In particular we are investigating stopping in matter and buffer gases. After the extraction the isotopes can be stored in neutral atoms or ion traps for experiments. Our research includes precision studies of nuclear $β$-decay through $β$-$ν$ momentum correlations as well as searches for permanent electric dipole moments in heavy atomic systems like radium. Such experiments offer a large potential for discovering new physics.