Cavity QED in a molecular ion trap

We propose a class of experiments using rotational states of dipolar molecular ions trapped near an on-chip superconducting microwave cavity. Molecular ions have several advantages over neutral molecules for such cavity quantum electrodynamics experiments. In particular, ions can be loaded easily into deep rf traps and are held independent of their internal state. An analysis of the detection efficiency for, and coherence properties of, the molecular ions is presented. We discuss approaches for manipulating quantum information and performing high-resolution rotational spectroscopy using this system.