Abstract

Recently, a number of groups have reported observations of phase changes in the Paul trap.^[1] In these experiments, very small clouds of ions have been laser cooled. As kinetic energy is removed from the ions there comes a critical point at which they fall into a regular crystal lattice. The existence of these unusual crystals has been demonstrated using image intensifying cameras. Other work has been done using Penning traps, where the dynamics of larger clouds of ions have been investigated.^[2]

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