Bragg diffraction from crystallized ion plasmas
Single crystals of a one-component plasma were observed by optical Bragg diffraction. The plasmas contained 10(5) to 10(6) single-positive beryllium-9 ions (9Be+) at particle densities of 10(8) to 10(9) per cubic centimeter. In approximately spherical plasmas, single body-centered cubic (bcc) crystals or, in some cases, two or more bcc crystals having fixed orientations with respect to each other were observed. In some oblate plasmas, a mixture of bcc and face-centered cubic ordering was seen. Knowledge of the properties of one-component plasma crystals is required for models of white dwarfs and neutron stars, which are believed to contain matter in that form.
Itano
WM
Time and Frequency Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.
Bollinger
JJ
Tan
JN
Jelenkovic
B
Huang
X
Wineland
DJ