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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Possible Precision Far—Infrared Spectroscopy on Trapped Ions

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One of the necessary conditions for very high resolution spectroscopy is the existence of long-living energy levels between which transitions can be induced by tunable electromagnetic radiation. Moreover the observation time of the particles under investigation should be sufficiently long, and perturbing effects like Doppler broadening and collisions should be very small. All this leads to the technique of trapped ion spectroscopy which offers all the required conditions. It uses the confinement of charged particles to a very small volume in space under ultrahigh vacuum conditions either by application of a r.f. voltage and a small additional d.c. bias to an arrangement of three electrodes as shown in Fig. 1 (r.f. trap or Paul trap), or by application of a d.c. voltage to the same electrode configuration and a superimposed magnetic field directed along the axis of symmetry (Penning trap). Details of the operation of such traps can be found in the 1iterature1,2.