Manipulating the structure of ion Coulomb crystals with light
Manipulating the structure of ion Coulomb crystals with light
Coulomb crystallisation of laser-cooled ensembles of ions in harmonic traps has been studied experimentally with many spectacular results in recent years [1-3]. It is well known that for sufficiently large numbers of ions the ground state of a Coulomb crystal in such a system has a body-centred cubic (bcc) structure. However, in experiments with crystals of up to a few 104 ions, structural transitions between bcc and, for example, facecentred cubic (fcc) or hexagonal close packed (hcp) structures are observed [4]. For constant ion densities, the lattice spacing of the planes of highest density differs only by about 3% between bcc and fcc structures and simulations predict very small energy differences, thus thermal effects even at temperatures in the mK regime are sufficient to excite these transitions. Here we study numerically the possibility of controlling and switching the crystal structure with the help of periodic potentials generated by the dipole forces of standing-wave light fields.
Horak, Peter
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Dantan, Aurélien
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Drewson, Michael
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Horak, Peter
520489b5-ccc7-4d29-bb30-c1e36436ea03
Dantan, Aurélien
9e503bd4-93a2-495d-a20a-0df9d0be9a96
Drewson, Michael
bc95e918-a721-48f0-a5b6-d165082ae65f
Horak, Peter, Dantan, Aurélien and Drewson, Michael
(2011)
Manipulating the structure of ion Coulomb crystals with light.
European Quantum Electronics Conference, , Munich, Germany.
22 - 26 May 2011.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Coulomb crystallisation of laser-cooled ensembles of ions in harmonic traps has been studied experimentally with many spectacular results in recent years [1-3]. It is well known that for sufficiently large numbers of ions the ground state of a Coulomb crystal in such a system has a body-centred cubic (bcc) structure. However, in experiments with crystals of up to a few 104 ions, structural transitions between bcc and, for example, facecentred cubic (fcc) or hexagonal close packed (hcp) structures are observed [4]. For constant ion densities, the lattice spacing of the planes of highest density differs only by about 3% between bcc and fcc structures and simulations predict very small energy differences, thus thermal effects even at temperatures in the mK regime are sufficient to excite these transitions. Here we study numerically the possibility of controlling and switching the crystal structure with the help of periodic potentials generated by the dipole forces of standing-wave light fields.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 2011
Venue - Dates:
European Quantum Electronics Conference, , Munich, Germany, 2011-05-22 - 2011-05-26
Organisations:
Optoelectronics Research Centre
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 341483
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/341483
PURE UUID: d4cb4c93-0b4e-4d95-b7d5-64821c700d90
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Date deposited: 25 Jul 2012 13:28
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:13
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Contributors
Author:
Peter Horak
Author:
Aurélien Dantan
Author:
Michael Drewson
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