Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics
Cooling and heating of crystalline ion beams
Ulrich Schramm, T Sch tz, Michael Bußmann, D. Habs
Abstract
The crystallization of ion beams has recently been established in the rf quadrupole storage ring PALLAS (PAul Laser CooLing Acceleration System) for laser-cooled 24 Mg + ion beams at an energy of about 1 eV. Yet, unexpectedly sharp constraints had to be met concerning the confinement strength and the longitudinal laser cooling rate. In this paper, related and up to now unseen heating mechanisms are pinpointed for crystalline beams. The weak but inevitable diffusive transverse heating associated with the laser cooling process itself is investigated, possibly allowing the future measurement of the latent heat of the ion crystal. As a function of the beam velocity, the influence of bending shear on the attainability of larger crystalline structures is presented. Finally, rf heating of crystalline beams of different structure is studied for discontinuous cooling.