Sympathetic cooling of trapped ions: A laser-cooled two-species nonneutral ion plasma

Abstract

Sympathetic cooling of trapped ions has been demonstrated in an experiment where ${}_{}{}^{198}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Hg}_{}^{+}{}_{}{}^{}$ ions were confined in a Penning ion trap with laser-cooled ${}_{}{}^9{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Be}_{}^{+}{}_{}{}^{}$ ions. ${}_{}{}^{198}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Hg}_{}^{+}{}_{}{}^{}$ temperatures below 1 K were achieved. Ion plasma sizes, shapes, and rotation frequencies were measured. Dramatic changes in the ${}_{}{}^9{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Be}_{}^{+}{}_{}{}^{}$ plasma were observed when the ${}_{}{}^{198}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Hg}_{}^{+}{}_{}{}^{}$ ions were introduced into the trap. These observations are consistent with the prediction of centrifugal separation for ions of different charge-to-mass ratios.