Abstract
The oscillation frequencies of charged particles in a Penning trap can serve as sensors for spectroscopy when additional field components are introduced to the magnetic and electric fields used for confinement. The presence of so-called “magnetic bottles” and specific electric anharmonicities creates calculable energy-dependences of the oscillation frequencies in the radiofrequency domain which may be used to detect the absorption or emission of photons both in the microwave and optical frequency domains. The precise electronic measurement of these oscillation frequencies therefore represents an optical sensor for spectroscopy. We discuss possible applications for precision laser and microwave spectroscopy and their role in the determination of magnetic moments and excited state life-times. Also, the trap-assisted measurement of radiative nuclear de-excitations in the X-ray domain is discussed. This way, the different applications range over more than 12 orders of magnitude in the detectable photon energies, from below μeV in the microwave domain to beyond MeV in the X-ray domain.
Highlights
Penning traps usually serve as a mere means for ion confinement under well-defined conditions.For spectroscopic applications, localization of ions and the possibility to cool their motion to very low velocities are the main features
Spectroscopy in charged particle traps such as Penning traps has widely been used for precision spectroscopy of stored ions at low velocities, as has been detailed out in [1,2]
We have discussed concepts for the detection of microwave, optical and X-ray photon absorption or emission by charged particles confined in a Penning trap
Summary
Penning traps usually serve as a mere means for ion confinement under well-defined conditions. Laser spectroscopy of atomic or molecular transitions is most often performed by detection of fluorescence photons upon resonant laser excitation [2] This is true for confined particles in traps, which have been used for precise determinations of atomic transition frequencies [3,4,5] and of fundamental quantities [6,7,8,9,10]. When the confining fields are chosen in such a way that the ion oscillation frequencies in the trap depend unambiguously on the energy of the ion motion, they may serve as an electronic detector for the absorption or emission of microwave, optical, or X-ray photons, as will be detailed out below. We will discuss this and other examples both from atomic and nuclear physics and provide a systematic account of the underlying trap physics
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