Nonlinear couplings and cooling dynamics in a large Paul trap designed for quantum information

Nonlinear coupling between the radial and axial motion of a hot ion cloud appear in a loss spectrum obtained by measuring the fraction of ions still trapped after a phase of excitation ("tickle") applied to a couple of electrodes, this technique allows us to identify the frequencies associated to the radial and axial motion of the ions. It was observed that interactions between ions induce coupling effects in large hot ions clouds trapped in a linear Paul trap. The features of such a coupling are captured by n-body numerical simulations.