Fixed target project AFTER at the LHC beams for heavy ion and hadron physics

High intensity proton and lead ion beams at the LHC collider allow one to use the beam halo by placing a fixed target or a bent crystal for beam extraction. The particle energy in this case is just half that at the RHIC collider, but the luminosity exceeds the collider luminosity many times. It is also possible to install a polarized target in the extracted beam. The project AFTER is aimed at investigation of rare processes, polarization phenomena, determination of the parameters required for analysis of cosmic rays and neutrino astrophysics, detailed investigation of quarkonia production and suppression depending on the phase transition of matter to the quark-gluon phase.     

Diffraction of ion beams at atoms

It is shown that observed extrema in the small angle scattering of ⁷Li⁺-ions (about 30 keV) at atoms have to be described by diffraction of the matter waves. A simple correlation is given for describing the positions of the extrema.     

Plasmas as an exotic target for heavy ion physics and spectroscopy

Following a short introduction of heavy ion collision physics relevant to fusion plasma researches and related to fusion technology, some exotic features of plasmas as a target for heavy ion collisions and spectroscopy have been discussed.     

Proposed double-layer target for the generation of high-quality laser-accelerated ion beams

In order to achieve a high-quality, i.e., monoenergetic, intense ion beam, we propose the use of a double-layer target. The first layer, at the target front, consists of high-Z atoms, while the second (rear) layer is a thin coating of low-Z atoms. The generation of high-quality proton beams from the double-layer target, irradiated by an ultraintense laser pulse, is demonstrated with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.     

Magnetically trapped atoms for compact atomic clocks

We investigate the hyperfine transition of magnetically trapped non-condensed atoms. The two principal frequency shifts, the second order Zeeman effect and the mean field interaction are considered. Analytic models of the mean frequency and its trap induced spread are developed. Comparisons with existing experiments evaluate the role of the atoms’ oscillatory motion. The analytic model proves to be equivalent to existing Monte Carlo simulations. The formulae provide a simple tool for optimising the design of a new experiment. Applied to the two-photon transition |F=1,m _F =−1〉→|F=2,m _F =1〉 in ⁸⁷Rb and the conditions of a typical atom chip experiment, a line spread as small as 11 mHz is predicted giving a quality factor of 10¹². The system is promising for application in precision instruments such as compact atomic clocks.     

All-quantized Jaynes-Cummings interaction for a trapped ultracold ion

We propose an all-quantized Jaynes-Cummings (JC) interaction between a trapped ultracold ion with a quantized radiation field. The carrier excitation gives the usual JC model in cavity QED, but the red and blue excitations will result in three-body interactions analogous to a two-mode problem in quantum optics.     

Formation of hollow heavy ion beams in plasma lens

Hollow cylindrical high-energy heavy ion beams are an efficient driver for target irradiation to achieve highly compressed matter. This paper is devoted to the study of how hollow beams form with the use of a plasma lens. Calculations and measurements were performed with a 200 MeV/amu C⁺⁶ beam.     

Suppression of intrabeam scattering in cooled heavy ion beams

The properties of electron cooled heavy ion beams in the ESR storage ring are dominated by heating due to intrabeam scattering. For low intensity ion beams a sudden reduction of the longitudinal ion beam temperature has been detected by Schottky noise analysis. This can be interpreted as the disappearance of intrabeam scattering heating which could allow a longitudinal ordering of the ion beam.     

Laser accelerated heavy particles - Tailoring of ion beams on a nano-scale

Intense lasers of femtosecond pulse duration are known to be drivers for intense electron and ion beams. Those beams, generated at laser intensities exceeding 10¹⁹ W/cm², are known to have unique characteristics and are therefore a subject of intense research world wide. Recently, the parameters of laser driven ion beams have been measured using new methods and it has been demonstrated, that beam patterns on a nanometer scale can be generated and propagated over long distances. We report on recent results and prospects for future application with special respect to further laser developments.     

Quantum state swap for two trapped Rydberg atoms

The quantum swap gate is one of the most useful gates for quantum computation. Two-qubit entanglement and a controlled-NOT quantum gate in a neutral Rydberg atom system have been achieved in recent experiments. It is therefore very interesting to propose a scheme here for swapping a quantum state between two trapped neutral atoms via the Rydberg blockade mechanism. The atoms interact with a sequence of laser pulses without individual addressing. The errors of the swap gate due to imprecision of pulse length, finite Rydberg interaction, and atomic spontaneous emission are discussed.     

Preparation of relativistic 7Li+ ion beams for precision experiments at storage rings

Heavy ion storage rings allow for tests of the structure of local space time via the Doppler effect. At the TSR/Heidelberg an experiment with high resolution laser spectroscopy at ⁷Li⁺ is performed. To gain the maximum resolution for saturation spectroscopy new methods of relativistic ion beam preparation and diagnostics have been developed. The laser cooling of the beam allows for precision determination of the mean velocity of the ions. A novel phase synchronous detection scheme, ultimately sensitive to single ions, gives insights into the cooling mechanism and dynamics. With an additional synchronous excitation scheme systematic uncertainties of the test experiment can be drastically reduced. After separation of the ground state ions from the triplet states of ⁷Li⁺ by the combination of laser and electron cooling, a bunched and cooled ensemble of fast moving high precision clocks with minimized perturbations by space charge effects and intra beam scattering is available. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Fast thermometry for trapped atoms using recoil-induced resonance

We have employed recoil-induced resonance(RIR) with linewidth on the order of 10 k Hz to demonstrate the fast thermometry for ultracold atoms. We theoretically calculate the absorption spectrum of RIR which agrees well with the experimental results. The temperature of the ultracold sample derived from the RIR spectrum is T = 84 ± 4.5 μK, which is close to 85 μK that measured by the method of time-of-flight absorption imaging. To exhibit the fast measurement advantage in applying RIR to the ultracold atom thermometry, we study the dependence of ultracold sample temperature on the trapping beam frequency detuning. This method can be applied to determine the translational temperature of molecules in photoassociation dynamics.     

New aspect in transient magnetic fields using heavy ion beams

Transient field precessions have been measured with the first excited 2 ₁ ⁺ -state as probe for ions of²⁸Si traversing Fe at v_ion?1v₀ and 13v₀(v₀=c/137) and⁶²Ni being stopped in Fe. The degree of polarization deduced for the Si ions, p_1s=0.19(6), is consistent with low-velocity data. There is clear evidence that the field strength is attenuated by heavy ion beams. For the⁶²Ni(2 ₁ ⁺ ) state at 1.173 MeV a g-factor value of g=0.34(7) was obtained in good agreement with a previous result.     

Atomic Wehrl entropy and negativity as entanglement measures for qudit pure states in a trapped ion

We analyze the atomic Wehrl entropy and negativity as compared with concurrence for qudit pure states in a trapped ion. We use the density matrix in calculating the three measures of quantum correlations. We find that a long surviving entangled qudit can be established between the three atomic levels and vibrational modes. We observe three distinct entanglements in response to an increasing Lamb–Dicke parameter.     

Fragmentation of target spectators in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions

We demonstrate that the assumption that target spectators fragment isotropically in a gently moving coordinate system is in agreement with pseudorapidity distributions, measured in central ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions of projectile energy from 14.5A GeV to 200A GeV. Target spectator remnants might be excluded from measurement by introducing a low energy cutoff for the accepted particles at approximately 200 MeV. An approximate scaling is presented for the pseudorapidity distribution of the target spectator fragments. Theoretical tools used for studying intermediate energy heavy ion collisions seem to be applicable in describing target spectator fragmentation in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions.     

Feedback cooling of a single trapped ion

Based on a real-time measurement of the motion of a single ion in a Paul trap, we demonstrate its electromechanical cooling below the Doppler limit by homodyne feedback control (cold damping). The feedback cooling results are well described by a model based on a quantum mechanical master equation.     

Intense ion beams as a tool for opacity measurements in warm dense matter

Opacity measurements in warm dense matter (WDM) provide a valuable benchmark for the diverging theoretical models in this regime. Heating of thin foils with intense heavy-ion beams allows one to create isolated samples of warm dense matter suitable for experimental determination of frequency-dependent opacities. A prerequisite for the measurements is the isothermal expansion of the heated foil. Hydrodynamic simulations predict that this condition is fulfilled. The analysis shows that existing ion-beam accelerators are capable to contribute to this field of research.