Highly charged ions represent environments that allow to study precisely one or more bound electrons subjected to unsurpassed electromagnetic fields. Under such conditions, the magnetic moment (g-factor) of a bound electron changes significantly, to a large extent due to contributions from quantum electrodynamics. We present three Penning-trap experiments, which allow to measure magnetic moments with ppb precision and better, serving as stringent tests of corresponding calculations, and also yielding access to fundamental quantities like the fine structure constant α and the atomic mass of the electron. Additionally, the bound electrons can be used as sensitive probes for properties of the ionic nuclei. We summarize the measurements performed so far, discuss their significance, and give a detailed account of the experimental setups, procedures and the foreseen measurements.

The oscillation frequencies of charged particles in a Penning trap can serve as sensors for spectroscopy when additional field components are introduced to the magnetic and electric fields used for confinement. The presence of so-called “magnetic bottles” and specific electric anharmonicities creates calculable energy-dependences of the oscillation frequencies in the radiofrequency domain which may be used to detect the absorption or emission of photons both in the microwave and optical frequency domains. The precise electronic measurement of these oscillation frequencies therefore represents an optical sensor for spectroscopy. We discuss possible applications for precision laser and microwave spectroscopy and their role in the determination of magnetic moments and excited state lifetimes. Also, the trap-assisted measurement of radiative nuclear de-excitations in the X-ray domain is discussed. This way, the different applications range over more than 12 orders of magnitude in the detectable photon energies, from below μeV in the microwave domain to beyond MeV in the X-ray domain.

The measurement of the g-factor of the electron bound in a hydrogen-like ion is a high-accuracy test of the theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED) in strong fields. Here we report on the measurement of the g-factor of the bound electron in hydrogen-like oxygen (¹⁶O⁷⁺). In our experiment a single highly charged ion is stored in a Penning trap. The electronic spin state of the ion is monitored via the continuous Stern–Gerlach effect in a quantum non-demolition measurement. Quantum jumps between the two spin states (spin up and spin down) are induced by a microwave field at the spin precession frequency of the bound electron. The g-factor of the bound electron is obtained by varying the microwave frequency and counting the number of spin flips. The comparison of our experimental values for the g-factor of the bound electron with the theoretical values shows excellent agreement and confirms the recent non-perturbative QED calculations.

We present our Penning Trap setup which is designed for capture, confinement and preparation of well-defined ion clouds for use in experiments with high-intensity lasers. We explain the experimental setup and the techniques used to capture, confine, manipulate and detect the ions inside the Penning trap. We give an over-view of the status of the project and the planned procedures to measure the laser-focus shape in situ.

HITRAP is a facility for very slow highly-charged heavy ions at GSI. HITRAP uses the GSI relativistic ion beams, the Experimental Storage Ring ESR for electron cooling and deceleration to 4 MeV/u, and consists of a combination of an interdigital H-mode (IH) structure with a radiofrequency quadrupole structure for further deceleration to 6 keV/u, and a Penning trap for accumulation and cooling to low temperatures. Finally, ion beams with low emittance will be delivered to a large variety of atomic and nuclear physics experiments. Presently, HITRAP is in the commissioning phase. The deceleration of heavy-ion beam from the ESR storage ring to an energy of 500 keV/u with the IH structure has been demonstrated and studied in detail. The commissioning of the RFQ structure and the cooler trap is ongoing.