Transverse electron cooling of heavy molecular ions

Abstract

Transverse electron cooling of heavy molecular ions has been studied at the Test Storage Ring (TSR). Electron beams from a cold GaAs:(Cs,O) photocathode, with kinetic energies down to 31 eV, have been used for cooling of singly-charged ions of masses up to 41 u. We believe that these are the heaviest singly-charged ions for which successful electron cooling has been reported so far. Transverse ion-beam emittances ≪1 μm were reached after typically several seconds of cooling time. The measured transverse cooling rates agree with a simple binary-collision model, assuming a transverse electron temperature of approximately 1 meV/k_{B}. The results serve as benchmark for electron cooling at the new Cryogenic Storage Ring, which uses the same photocathode electron source and is targeting singly-charged ions of even higher mass.