Coulomb explosion imaging at the heavy ion storage ring TSR

We present a novel experimental setup which combines the storage of molecular ions with subsequent Coulomb explosion imaging (CEI) for molecular structure studies. A, new extraction system has been installed at the heavy ion storage ring TSR which allows slow extraction of ions out of the ring. Attached to the extraction beamline, a new detector system for Coulomb explosion imaging has been set up to analyze the extracted molecular ions. By combining the CEI technique with the storage ring, it is possible to observe the structure of small molecular ions while the vibrational relaxation is in progress or after the ions have reached thermal equilibrium with the environment (300 K), where typically only the vibrational ground state is populated. A detailed description of the facility installed at the TSR is given and the first CEI results for HD+, which are in very good agreement with the theoretical expectation, are discussed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.