In 1995, Christopher Monroe and collaborators cooled one ion in a ring/endcap Paul trap. They used Doppler cooling and optical pumping into . Red-sideband Raman transitions transferred population to , followed by dissipative recycling. Repeating across three directions yielded a reported three-dimensional ground state population of about .[ref]
A variable-frequency Raman transition probe, an exchange pulse and a cycling detection beam converted state populations into fluorescence collected through optics onto a position-sensitive photomultiplier. Red/blue asymmetry inferred motional occupation; varying probe duration tested the thermal assumption. Off-resonant processes and independently observed heating limited cooling.[ref]