Time evolution of the internal energy distribution of singly charged anthracene in a storage ring

We have stored singly charged anthracene molecular ions C14H10+ in a compact electrostatic storage ring called the Miniring. The neutral yield curves due to dissociation of the ions induced by laser excitation at different storage times were analyzed and fitted with a t−α law. The evolution of the internal energy distribution of the stored molecular ion ensemble was obtained as a function of the storage time by using a simple model which related the experimental decay factor α to the high-energy edge of the modeled energy distribution. (paper)