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Abstract

The UW/MPIK-PTMS experiment is a new Penning trap mass spectrometer that was designed at the University of Washington, Seattle, for a determination of the 3H/3He mass ratio with a relative uncertainty of less than 10−11. In order to reach this precision, it features a double-trap setup consisting of a preparation trap and a measurement trap, which allows fast swichting of the investigated ions. In the year 2008 the experiment was moved to Heidelberg, where a new lab had been set up to meet its specific requirements. In the scope of this thesis the experiment was set up and some systems were upgraded. The calculations and first commissioning experiments described here aimed at the characterization of internal and external ion creation, the alignment of the trap tower relative to the magnetic field orientation, effective ion transport procedures, and the first detection of stored ions in both Penning traps.