Lasers and laser-cooling used for studies of beam dynamics

A new technique for measuring the transverse profile of ion beams, using laser induced fluorescence, is presented. The technique employs the resonant interaction of laser light with a beam of circulating ions in a storage ring. The light from the spontaneous decay of the excited ions is imaged by an optical system onto a high resolution CCD, making it possible to extract the beam's transverse spatial distribution. The first results from this technique, including studies of the transverse to longitudinal coupling in a circulating, laser-cooled ion beam, are presented