A diagnostic to measure time-resolved atom column density and Doppler temperature in atomic vapors produced by laser ablation.

We report on the development of a diagnostic to measure the time-resolved column density and Doppler temperature of atomic vapors produced by laser ablation. The diagnostic is based on the strong frequency dependence of the atomic susceptibility near an electronic transition in the interrogated atomic species. Interference on the face of a fast photodetector between the several frequency components present in a sinusoidally phase-modulated probe beam will produce a time signature uniquely determined by the column density of atoms in the probed atomic state and the Doppler temperature of the atomic vapor.

Extended temperature tuning of an ultraviolet diode laser for trapping and cooling single Yb+ ions.

We describe an ultraviolet (uv) diode laser system for cooling trapped Yb(+) ions. Using four stages of thermoelectric cooling, 10 mW of light at 369.5 nm is obtained by cooling a 373.

Observation of power-Law scaling for phase transitions in linear trapped ion crystals.

We report an experimental confirmation of the power-law relationship between the critical anisotropy parameter and ion number for the linear-to-zigzag phase transition in an ionic crystal. Our experiment uses laser cooled calcium ions confined in a linear radio-frequency trap. Measurements for up to ten ions are in good agreement with theoretical and numeric predictions.