Low-current, vertical blowup in a stored laser-cooled ion beam

Using a novel technique for real-time transverse beam profile diagnostics of a stored ion beam, we have observed the transverse size of a stored laser-cooled ion beam. Earlier we observed that the density of the beam is independent of the beam current. At very low currents, we observe an abrupt change in this behavior: The vertical beam size increases suddenly by about an order of magnitude. This observation implies a sudden change in the indirect vertical cooling mediated by intrabeam scattering. Our results have serious implications for the ultimate beam quality attainable by laser cooling.