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arXiv · 1609.06973

Rapid crystallization of externally produced ions in a Penning trap

T. Murboeck·S. Schmidt·G. Birkl·W. Noertershaeuser·R. C. Thompson·M. Vogel
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Abstract

We have studied the cooling dynamics, formation process and geometric structure of mesoscopic crystals of externally produced magnesium ions in a Penning trap. We present a cooling model and measurements for a combination of buffer gas cooling and laser cooling which has been found to reduce the ion kinetic energy by eight orders of magnitude from several hundreds of eV to micro-eV and below within seconds. With ion numbers of the order of 1000 to 100000, such cooling leads to the formation of ion Coulomb crystals which display a characteristic shell structure in agreement with theory of non-neutral plasmas. We show the production and characterization of two-species ion crystals as a means of sympathetic cooling of ions lacking a suitable laser-cooling transition.

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T. Murboeck, S. Schmidt, G. Birkl, W. Noertershaeuser, R. C. Thompson, M. Vogel. 2016-09-22. Rapid crystallization of externally produced ions in a Penning trap. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.94.043410

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