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Main Authors: Paliwal, Prerna, Toscano, Jutta, Willitsch, Stefan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09298
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author Paliwal, Prerna
Toscano, Jutta
Willitsch, Stefan
author_facet Paliwal, Prerna
Toscano, Jutta
Willitsch, Stefan
contents Over the past years, radiofrequency ion traps have become an attractive platform for studying chemical reactions as they enable a high degree of control over ion-molecule dynamics. In this review, we summarize techniques for the trapping and cooling of atomic and molecular ions in radiofrequency traps including Doppler and resolved-sideband laser cooling, sympathetic cooling, and cryogenic buffer-gas methods. We discuss strategies for controlling key reaction parameters: the preparation of specific internal quantum states by internal cooling, optical pumping, state-selective photoionization and quantum-logic spectroscopy; the manipulation of collision energies through micromotion control, dynamic trapping and combination with molecular beams; and the selection of molecular structure via isotopic substitution, conformational separation and isomer-specific ion generation. We illustrate applications of these approaches by discussing studies on quantum-state-dependent kinetics, quantum-resonance effects and structure-sensitive reactivity in ion-neutral collisions. We conclude by outlining future challenges, including full state-to-state reaction mapping, reaching the ultracold quantum regime free of micromotion, and the exploration of complex and chiral systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_09298
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Control of chemical reactions in radiofrequency ion traps
Paliwal, Prerna
Toscano, Jutta
Willitsch, Stefan
Chemical Physics
Over the past years, radiofrequency ion traps have become an attractive platform for studying chemical reactions as they enable a high degree of control over ion-molecule dynamics. In this review, we summarize techniques for the trapping and cooling of atomic and molecular ions in radiofrequency traps including Doppler and resolved-sideband laser cooling, sympathetic cooling, and cryogenic buffer-gas methods. We discuss strategies for controlling key reaction parameters: the preparation of specific internal quantum states by internal cooling, optical pumping, state-selective photoionization and quantum-logic spectroscopy; the manipulation of collision energies through micromotion control, dynamic trapping and combination with molecular beams; and the selection of molecular structure via isotopic substitution, conformational separation and isomer-specific ion generation. We illustrate applications of these approaches by discussing studies on quantum-state-dependent kinetics, quantum-resonance effects and structure-sensitive reactivity in ion-neutral collisions. We conclude by outlining future challenges, including full state-to-state reaction mapping, reaching the ultracold quantum regime free of micromotion, and the exploration of complex and chiral systems.
title Control of chemical reactions in radiofrequency ion traps
topic Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09298