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The cryogenic storage ring CSR located at Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Germany allows storage of small molecular ions like OH till as large as biomolecules and metal clusters. The CSR is designed to perform experiments on ions stored in a low thermal radiation field (<10 K) and in extreme ultra-high vacuum (below 10-13 mbar pressure) conditions. The experimental vacuum system of the CSR, together with all ion optical elements, is entirely housed inside a cryostat to provide unprecedented vacuum conditions and assure long storage times even for very heavy ion beams. CSR is capable of storing the ions for thousands of seconds in ro-vibrationally ground state. The electrostatic beam optics and the low energy electron cooler (to be installed in few months) will allow highly-precise recombination experiments with molecular ions of 160 atomic mass units per charge state. Suppression of the black body radiation background in combination with electron cooling will give access to internal temperature of stored ion around 10K and will allow state-selective experiments on infrared-active species, which is impossible in present-day room-temperature storage rings. In spring 2015, the complete CSR was cooled to an average temperature below 10 K and first experiments with stored atomic and molecular ions have been successfully performed. An overview of the CSR project will be discussed along with the scientific opportunities arising from its unique design. |