Cold electron and ion beams generated from trapped atoms

A novel way of creating low-temp. electron and ion beams is demonstrated. The beams are generated by converting a laser-cooled atom cloud to a highly excited Rydberg gas, which subsequently develops into an ultracold plasma. Charged particles are extd. from the Rydberg gas and the plasma by a pulsed elec. field. The properties of the resulting electron and ion pulses are exptl. studied. Pulses of a few hundred ns duration contg. a few pC of charge were obsd. Upper limits for the temp. of such beams (60 K for ions and 500 K for electrons) are obtained, and the beams are shown to have low emittance. Further development of the method may lead to the generation of high-brightness charged-particle beams from ultracold plasmas. [on SciFinder (R)]