Research

The Trapped Ions team works on utilizing the unique properties of cold, trapped ions to perform high-precision measurements, with the aim of testing physical theories and improving our knowledge of fundamental physical constants.
The simplest of all molecules, the H₂⁺ ion, is studied both experimentally and theoretically. As compared to atomic systems, molecules offer other possibilites for fundamental studies : their ro-vibrational spectrum is sensitive to the nucleus-electron mass ratio, and allows probing for hypothetical beyond-standard-model interactions between nuclei.
The team is also working on the “sympathetic cooling” process, whereby an ionic species can be cooled to ultra-low temperatures via the Coulomb interaction with laser-cooled ions. One of the objectives is to extend this technique to antimatter ions.