Ion storage at eV energies in an octopole ring

To store ions for times up to several seconds with energies in the 10 eV/amu range a tabletop storage ring with a circumference of about 1 m will be constructed. The ions will be confined and guided by RF-multipoles. The first objective is the production of pure ground state beams of (multiply charged) ions. This will allow for elucidating the unknown rule of metastable ions in electron capture studies, which will be performed in a crossed beam experiment after extraction of the ion beam from the storage ring. In order to test the technique of ion storage by means of RF-multipoles a linear RF-octopole beam guide has been constructed. First results of highly charged ion injection and subsequent electron capture studies in the RF-octopole beam guide are presented for C4+ ions