The result of a Kuzmich Lab experiment gone drastically wrong. (Downtown Atlanta tornado 3/14/08)
Linear chain of triply charged thorium ions.
A laser-cooled sample of 85Rb atoms (pink spherical cloud).
Pictured are several frames of the laser cooling and Wigner crystallization process for triply charged thorium ions
loaded into a linear rf trap at ultrahigh vacuum. The final crystal is ~16,000 ions and about 2 mm tall.
