Ion traps for high-precision experiments with radioactive beams

: Is there an ideal laboratory? Textbook-like conditions can be achieved in an ion trap by confining the ion to a well-defined volume using well-known electromagnetic fields. This setup allows for manipulation and detection a single charged particle -- or an ensemble -- over extended interrogation times. These conditions and the customization of ion traps have led to some of the most precise measurements to test, for example, fundamental symmetries. Thus, from roots in atomic physics, ion trapping has grown in popularity in a range of disciplines, from plasma experiments to quantum computing to Space exploration, and the technique can even be found in industrial applications. At radioactive-ion-beam (RIB) facilities, ion traps were first used for Penning trap mass spectrometry. Since then, they have become prized for high-efficiency, universal beam preparation such as cooling, charge breeding, and bunching. I will discuss the role of ion traps at RIB facilities before focusing on those deployed at TRIUMF's Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear science (TITAN) facility for Penning trap mass spectrometry and in-trap decay spectroscopy.

Dr. Ania Kwiatkowski attended the University of California, Berkeley, obtaining a B.A. in physics and French. Thereafter, she went to the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University, achieving her M.S. in 2007 and PhD in 2011. After a postdoc at TRIUMF, she joined the faculty at Texas A&M University before returning to TRIUMF as a research scientist in September 2016. There she uses ion traps to perform high-precision measurements on radionuclides at the TRIUMF's Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear science (TITAN) facility. The TITAN research program includes Penning trap mass spectrometry and in-trap decay spectroscopy to probe, in particular, ground-state nuclear properties. Kwiatkowski uses this information to examine nuclear structure, to investigate stellar investigation, and to test fundamental symmetries.