Investigation of Space-Charge Phenomena in Gas-Filled Penning Traps

The centering of ions in Penning traps by a quadrupolar radiofrequency excitation in the presence of a buffer gas has been studied in the regime of high charge‐densities. It is found to deviate significantly from the single‐particle situation. In particular, the efficiency of the cooling process is affected as well as the resolving power. The behavior has been studied experimentally at the preparation trap REXTRAP and the high‐precision Penning trap setup ISOLTRAP both located at the on‐line mass separator ISOLDE at CERN. In addition, the phenomenon has been investigated numerically by a custom‐designed simulation.