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Dissociative electron recombination and rotational cooling of the deuterated triatomic hydrogen ions H2D+ and D2H+

A. Znotins1, A. Faure2, C. H. Greene3, M. Grieser1, F. Grussie1, L. W. Isberner1,4, Á. Kálosi1,5, V. Kokoouline6, D. Müll1 et al.

D. Paul1, M. Pezzella7,8, D. W. Savin5, S. Schippers4, J. Tennyson7, A. Wolf1, O. Novotný1, and H. Kreckel1,*

  • *Contact author: holger.kreckel@mpi-hd.mpg.de
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Phys. Rev. A 112, 052819 – Published 17 November, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/wfb2-9lfw

Abstract

We have measured the dissociative recombination (DR) of the deuterated triatomic hydrogen ions H2D+ and D2H+ as a function of storage time at the Cryogenic Storage Ring (CSR). Both molecular ions were stored for up to 1000 s inside the cryogenic vacuum of the CSR prior to the electron recombination measurements, allowing them to cool to their lowest rotational states. We implement a comprehensive model for all relevant processes to predict the internal state evolution of the ions during storage inside the CSR, employing calculated radiative transition strengths and state-selective rate coefficients for electron collisions. Our DR rate coefficient measurements with deuterated triatomic hydrogen ions in defined quantum states allow for meaningful comparisons with state-of-the-art theoretical calculations, paving the way for a better understanding of the complex DR process for polyatomic molecular ions.

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Phys. Rev. A 112, 052819– Published 17 November, 2025
  • Received 19 September 2025
  • Accepted 20 October 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by Max Planck Society.

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