Diagnostic methods to detect the properties of cooled heavy ion beams in storage rings

Non-destructive diagnostics for the determination of the beam properties are crucial for experiments with cooled heavy ion beams in storage rings. The techniques presently available to measure the longitudinal momentum spread and the transverse emittances are briefly described. The experimental achievements-in the preparation of cooled heavy ions are summarized. Intrabeam scattering heating is the main limitation for attaining highest beam quality as stronger compression in phase space causes a correspondingly increased heating rate. In the low intensity regime a suppression of intrabeam scattering was observed as a sudden reduction of the momentum spread. This effect opens possibilities for precision experiments with beams of unprecedented quality.