0000000000352146
AUTHOR
U. Schmeling
Trapped ion density distribution in the presence of He-buffer gas
The spatial density distribution of Ba+ ions, confined in a rf quadrupole trap, has been measured by laser scanning across the trap. This allows to determine the ion temperature, assuming thermal equilibrium. Under UHV conditions the average ion energy has been found to be one tenth of the trap potential well depth. Collisions with He at pressures up to 5×10−6 mbar reduce the ion temperature by a factor of 3.
On the sensitivity of ion traps for spectroscopic applications
Ba+ ions, created by surface ionization near one endcap of an rf quadrupole trap were slowed down by collisions with the background gas. At He pressures of 10−6 mbar or more 2% of the primary ions could be trapped. The sensitivity of ion detection by fluorescence radiation allows spectroscopic experiments, starting from less than 107 particles. The observation of the ground-state hyperfine splitting of137Ba+ is given as an example.