Ion-trap application: Fundamental weak interaction studies using ion traps

Charged particle traps have been playing an important role in exploring the fundamental properties of nature and contribute significantly to the development of new concepts in science. They provide a gentle confinement of stable and radioactive ions within a small volume and provide ideal conditions to perform high precision experiments. Precision experiments using traps relate to the low energy region and complement ultra-high energy experiments as performed in collision experiments. Using ion Penning traps, it is possible to perform accurate mass measurements at a level of below one ppb. Ion traps are also used for weak interaction studies, radioactive ion beam manipulation as, for example, retardation, accumulation, cooling, beam cleaning, and bunching. Recently, the Texas A&M University Penning trap facility (TAMUTRAP) was commissioned and will be used to search for possible scalar currents, which if found, would be an indication of physics beyond the standard model (SM).