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Structural properties of two-component coulomb crystals in linear paul traps
L Hornekaer1, N Kjaergaard, A M Thommesen
1Institute of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus, Denmark.
Physical Review Letters
|April 6, 2001
Abstract:
We report on structural properties of two-component Coulomb crystals in a linear Paul trap. The crystals consist of two laser cooled ion species, 24Mg+ and 40Ca+. The lighter 24Mg+ ions form an inner cylindrical crystal structure surprisingly similar to that of an infinitely long single component crystal, while the outermost shell of the surrounding 40Ca+ ions have a spheroidal shape, which is highly insensitive to the presence of the 24Mg+ ions. Observed changes in the radial separation of the two ion species with the radius of the inner cylindrical crystal is explained by a simple model.