Infrared absorption spectroscopy of a single polyatomic molecular ion

Quantum Physics arXiv:2511.19687 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 24 Nov 2025] Title:Infrared absorption spectroscopy of a single polyatomic molecular ion Authors:Zhenlin Wu, Tim Duka, Mariano Isaza-Monsalve, Miriam Kautzky, Vojtěch Švarc, Andrea Turci, René Nardi, Marcin Gronowski, Michał Tomza, Brandon J. Furey, Philipp Schindler View a PDF of the paper titled Infrared absorption spectroscopy of a single polyatomic molecular ion, by Zhenlin Wu and 9 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Absorption spectroscopy is a fundamental tool for probing molecular structure. However, performing absorption spectroscopy on individual molecules is challenging due to the low signal-to-noise ratio. Here, we report on a nondestructive absorption spectroscopy on a mid-infrared vibrational transition in a single molecular ion that is co-trapped with an atomic ion. The absorption of a single photon is detected via the momentum transfer from the absorbed photon onto the molecule. This recoil signal is amplified using a non-classical state of motion of the two-ion crystal and subsequently read out via the atomic ion. We characterize the recoil detection method and use it to investigate the interaction between femtosecond laser pulses and the O-H stretching vibration in individual CaOH+ molecular ions. Furthermore, we present the single-photon absorption spectrum obtained for the vibrational transition. This method represents a milestone towards quantum non-demolition measurements of complex polyatomic molecules, providing high-fidelity methods for preparation and measurement of the quantum state of a wide range of molecular species. Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2511.19687 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2511.19687v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2511.19687 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Zhenlin Wu [view email] [v1] Mon, 24 Nov 2025 20:48:05 UTC (703 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Infrared absorption spectroscopy of a single polyatomic molecular ion, by Zhenlin Wu and 9 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2025-11 Change to browse by: physics physics.atom-ph References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)