Feasibility of beam crystallization in a cooler storage ring

Abstract

It has been known theoretically that a charged-particle beam circulating in a storage ring exhibits an “ordered” configuration at the space-charge limit. Such an ultimate state of matter is called a crystalline beam whose emittance is ideally equal to zero except for quantum noise. This paper discusses how close one can come to various ordered states by employing currently available accelerator technologies. The dynamic nature of ultracold beams and conditions required for crystallization are briefly reviewed. Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to study the feasibility of this unique phenomenon, considering practical situations in general cooling experiments. It is pointed out that several essential obstacles must be overcome to reach a three-dimensional crystalline state in a storage ring. Doppler laser cooling of ion beams is also numerically simulated to explore the possibility of beam crystallization in an existing machine.