A planar Penning trap

We present a new concept for a Penning trap, which is planar and allows for the implementation of novel confinement techniques. The trap provides confinement perpendicular to its plane by an electric potential minimum while a superimposed magnetic field provides radial confinement. Both the axial position and the depth of the potential minimum can be controlled by the applied voltages. The device is scalable in the sense that an arbitrary number of planar traps can be embedded in one plane thus representing a multitrap array which can be used for particle interaction studies. Switches between different traps in the planar array allow for controlled interactions between the single stored particles.