Time-resolved measurements of multiply charged ions in an EBIT including excitation by LCLS x-rays pulses

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Elmar Träbert
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2012 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 221326082

Time resolution offers new insights into various problems in the physics of highly charged ions. One aspect is the study of wave function composition and its susceptibility to external magnetic fields, with test cases in the spectrum Fe XVII. The magnetic-field dependent occurrence of a J=0-0 transition (usually strictly forbidden) is to be measured in an electron beam ion trap (EBIT) via atomic lifetimes in the microsecond range. A prominent pair of 3d levels in the same atomic system (the 3C/3D problem) in contrast requires excitation by adjustable pairs of intense x-ray pulses with an arrival time difference on the scale of dozens of femtoseconds. This experiment can presently be tried only at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at SLAC (Stanford, CA, USA) with a traveling EBIT jointly run by a MPI–K Heidelberg and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) team. A subsequent measurement, in step with LCLS performance improvements, will measure the decay rate of the resonance line in two-electron (heliumlike) ions.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants