Photodissociation of CaOH+ for regeneration of Ca+ in linear Paul trap

The photodissociation of trapped CaOH+ produced by Ca+*(3d D-2(J)) + H2O reaction was performed in order to regenerate Ca+ in a linear Paul trap. Most Ca+ ions were successfully regenerated from molecular ions by deep UV light irradiation. The photon energy threshold in the CaOH+ + hv -> Ca+ + OH reaction was estimated to be similar to 4.9 eV. The dissociation energies of XH+ -> X+ + H and XOH+ -> X+ + OH (X = Be, Mg, Ca) were calculated using standard quantum chemistry codes to search for the possibility of regenerating light alkaline earth ions from molecular ions. The present experiment suggests that the photodissociation method is applicable to the regeneration of alkaline earth ions lost by chemical reactions with typical residual molecules in an ion trap experiment.