A simple method for the production and cryogenic trapping of radicals
and ions has been devised. The technique, acronymed CWRD (cold window
radial discharge), enables the isolation in rare gas matrices of short
-lived species formed within discharge plasmas, close to the trapping
surface. Alternatively, the same apparatus can be employed to process
with electrical discharges suitably doped rare gas solids, after stand
ard deposition on a cold surface. The performance of this device has b
een tested in an experiment aimed at generating p-dichlorobenzene radi
cal cation.