Düsseldorf 2007 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help

P: Fachverband Plasmaphysik

P 15: Staubige Plasmen

P 15.1: Talk

Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 14:35–14:50, 6F

Cold Multi-Species Non-Neutral Ion Plasmas in a Linear Radiofrequency Trap — •Bernhard Roth, Chaobo Zhang, and Stephan Schiller — Universitaetsstr. 1, Geb. 25.42 01.34, Universitätsstr. 1, D-40225 Düsseldorf

It has recently become possible to produce cold multi-species ion plasmas at temperatures ≪1 K, by sympathetic cooling of charged particle species using laser-cooled atomic ions as coolant. The species can be atomic or molecular. The wide range of coolable species makes these systems useful in many areas, e.g., chemical physics, molecular physics, and plasma and astrochemistry. The application of these novel cold ion plasmas requires a detailed knowledge of their properties and a reliable identification of the particle species involved. However, experimental studies of the properties of cold multi-species non-neutral ion plasmas are rare to date.

We investigate the motional resonance spectrum of crystalline multi-species plasmas (up to 4 species) in a linear Paul-trap. Different coupling regimes (strong, weak, intermediate) between the observed motional resonances were studied experimentally and numerically by MD simulations, in order to interpret the measured trap mode spectra. The different, sometimes opposing, line shifting effects contributing to the spectra were modelled and their interplay was investigated. The results obtained allow us to produce specific cold non-neutral plasmas for particular applications, such as high-precision spectroscopy or the measurement of chemical reaction rates.