#ion traps

[teachersource]

Wolfgang Paul was born on August 10, 1913. A German physicist, who co-developed the non-magnetic quadrupole mass filter which laid the foundation for what is now called an ion trap, a combination of electric or magnetic fields used to capture ions - often in a system isolated from an external environment. Ion traps have a number of scientific uses such as mass spectrometry, basic physics research, and controlling quantum states. He shared one-half of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1989 for this work with Hans Georg Dehmelt; the other half of the Prize in that year was awarded to Norman Foster Ramsey, Jr.

[teachersource]

Wolfgang Paul was born on August 10, 1913. A German physicist, who co-developed the non-magnetic quadrupole mass filter which laid the foundation for what is now called an ion trap, a combination of electric or magnetic fields used to capture ions - often in a system isolated from an external environment. Ion traps have a number of scientific uses such as mass spectrometry, basic physics research, and controlling quantum states. He shared one-half of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1989 for this work with Hans Georg Dehmelt; the other half of the Prize in that year was awarded to Norman Foster Ramsey, Jr.