Femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy for single trapped molecular ions

The vibrational dynamics of single molecular ions confined in a coulomb crystal are followed by 4 fs ultraviolet pulses. Theoretical calculations predicted the optimal laser parameters for a successful experiment under background free conditions. The ions are subject to internal heating, which has to be treated in the theory and handled in the experiment. Beyond the experiment the pump-probe scheme is extended by a coherent control scheme designed to suppress unwanted vibrational heating.