Publikace ÚTF

In recent years it was demonstrated that the negative hydrogen molecular ions H2
− and D2
− exist in long-lived
states with lifetimes exceeding 1 μs (H2
−) and 1 ms (D2
−). These metastable ions exhibit very large internuclear
distances and possess high angular momenta, which stabilizes them against autodetachment. Here we present
the results of a foil-induced Coulomb explosion imaging experiment that allows for the measurement of the
rovibrational wave functions of the metastable D2
− ions. We compare our results to previous predictions from a
nonlocal resonance theory. Ourmeasurements do not confirm the discrepancy between experiment and theory that
was inferred from previous photofragmentation studies. In fact, we find good agreement between the experiment
and calculated wave functions for the most long-lived states with rotational quantum numbers J = 37 and 38.