Ion Mobilities for Heaviest Element Identification

Abstract

Relativistic effects strongly influence the chemical and physical properties of the heaviest elements, which can significantly differ from the periodicity predicted by the periodic table of elements. Former systematic mobility measurements on monoatomic lanthanide ions revealed the dependence of ion-atom interactions on the underlying electronic configuration and helped in studying the aforementioned effects. Presently, the measurements are being extended to the actinides, where larger deviations from periodicity are expected. Our studies will cover ion mobilities of several actinide elements under different conditions of electric fields, buffer-gas pressures and temperatures, which will constitute benchmark data for state-of-the-art ab initio calculations.