Crystalline order in strongly coupled ion plasmas

Journal Article · Fri Dec 10 04:00:00 EST 1999 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1302135· OSTI ID:21210372

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

---

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. This manuscript reviews 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. The orientation of the ion crystals can be phase-locked 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: 21210372
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 498; ISSN 0094-243X; ISSN APCPCS
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BCC LATTICES
BERYLLIUM IONS
CORRELATIONS
DISTURBANCES
ELECTRIC FIELDS
FLUORESCENCE
IONIC CRYSTALS
LASER RADIATION
ORIENTATION
PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
ROTATION
TRAPPING
TRAPS