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Article: STICK-SLIP MOTION OF A STRESSED COULOMB CRYSTAL OBSERVED BY NIST SCIENTISTS.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Article date:
- March 1, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 National Institute of Standards and Technology. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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NIST scientists in collaboration with the University of California at San Diego, have recently identified earthquake-like disturbances in what had previously been considered to be stable nonneutral-plasma crystals. Such a crystal, confined in a Penning trap with its rotation locked to a rotating electric field, has potential applications in atomic frequency standards and quantum logic. The value of these crystals lies in their high degree of order and stability, so it is important to learn how to control these unexpected motions.
The experiments ...