Crystalline order in strongly coupled plasmas

Journal Article · Fri Jan 15 04:00:00 EST 1999 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.57469· OSTI ID:21207939

Bollinger, J J; Mitchell, T B; Huang, X -P; Itano, W M; Tan, J N; Jelenkovic, B M; Wineland, D J ^[1]

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1. Time and Frequency Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80303 (United States)

Laser-cooled trapped ions can be strongly coupled and form crystalline states. We describe experimental studies which measure the spatial correlations of Be{sup +} ion crystals formed in Penning traps. Both Bragg scattering of the cooling-laser light and spatial imaging of the laser-induced ion fluorescence are used to measure these correlations. In spherical plasmas with more than 2x10{sup 5} ions, body-centered-cubic (bcc) crystals, the predicted bulk structure, are the only type of crystals observed. We are able to phase-lock the orientation of the ion crystals to a rotating electric-field perturbation. With this 'rotating wall' technique and stroboscopic detection, images of individual ions in a Penning trap are obtained. The rotating wall technique also provides a precise control of the time-dilation shift due to the plasma rotation, which is important for Penning trap frequency standards.

• OSTI ID: 21207939
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 457; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
BCC LATTICES
BEAM DYNAMICS
BERYLLIUM IONS
CORRELATIONS
DISTURBANCES
ELECTRIC FIELDS
FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY
IMAGES
ION BEAMS
IONIC CRYSTALS
LASER RADIATION
PHOTON-ATOM COLLISIONS
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
TRAPPING
TRAPS