Preparation of cold ions in strong magnetic field and its application to gas-phase NMR spectroscopy

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) technique is widely used as a powerful tool to study the physical and chemical properties of materials. However, this technique is limited to the materials in condensed phases. To extend this technique to the gas-phase molecular ions, we are developing a gas-phase NMR apparatus. In this note, we describe the basic principle of the NMR detection for molecular ions in the gas phase based on a Stern-Gerlach type experiment in a Penning trap and outline the apparatus under development. We also present the experimental procedures and the results on the formation and the manipulation of cold ions under a strong magnetic field, which are the key techniques to detect the NMR by the present method