The NIST Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) Facility is a table-top device that creates and studies highly charged ions at extremely high temperatures—over ten million degrees Kelvin. These ions are trapped using electric and magnetic fields in a vacuum chamber and analyzed with an electron beam and spectrometers that detect light from the visible to x-ray ranges. The research conducted here has applications in fusion energy, x-ray astronomy, microelectronics, and basic science.
This facility also produces specialized ion beams used to nanostructure materials for magnetic tunnel junction devices. The EBIT plays a key role in advancing both fundamental scientific understanding and practical technologies by enabling precise studies of ion behavior under extreme conditions.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/electron-beam-ion-trap-ebit-facility
Keywords: highly charged ions, quantum vacuum, spectrometers
