Atoms 2015, 3, 367-391; doi:10.3390/atoms3030367 OPEN ACCESS atoms ISSN 2218-2004 www.mdpi.com/journal/atoms Article Experiments with Highly-Ionized Atoms in Unitary Penning Traps Shannon Fogwell Hoogerheide 1, Aung S. Naing 2, Joan M. Dreiling 1, Samuel M. Brewer 3, Nicholas D. Guise 1;4 and Joseph N. Tan 1;* 1 National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA; E-Mails:
[email protected] (S.F.H.);
[email protected] (J.M.D.);
[email protected] (N.D.G.) 2 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA; E-Mail:
[email protected] 3 Chemical Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA; E-Mail:
[email protected] 4 Joint Quantum Institute, College Park, MD 20742, USA * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail::
[email protected]. Academic Editor: Elmar Träbert Received: 30 May 2015 / Accepted: 5 August 2015 / Published: 14 August 2015 Abstract: Highly-ionized atoms with special properties have been proposed for interesting applications, including potential candidates for a new generation of optical atomic clocks at the one part in 1019 level of precision, quantum information processing and tests of fundamental theory. The proposed atomic systems are largely unexplored. Recent developments at NIST are described, including the isolation of highly-ionized atoms at low energy in unitary Penning traps and the use of these traps for the precise measurement of radiative decay lifetimes (demonstrated with a forbidden transition in Kr17+), as well as for studying electron capture processes.