Acknowledgements

I would like to begin by thanking Prof Andrew Steane, my supervisor. His
enthusiasm and advice have been indispensable in completing the work
presented here: from the quick fixes to the bigger pictures, and all the
details in between. I must also express my gratitude to Prof Derek Stacey.
It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work alongside them both.

I feel I must mention the other members of the ion-trapping group, if only
to ensure that they'll let me back into the department. I am grateful to
Dr.  David Lucas for his companionship and his tirelessness both in the
office and while running experiments. Matthew McDonnell, Dr. Charles
Donald and, more recently, Simon Webster and Jonathan Home have all
contributed towards making my time as a DPhil student worthwhile. Spending
several years in the same office as them has necessarily honed my wit as
well as my wits, and I will miss having someone to insult. Thanks also to
Drs. Angel Ramos and Marek Sasura, and to Dr. David Stevens.

My construction work and time in the basement of the Clarendon Laboratory
would not have been the same without the presence of Graham Quelch and
George Matthews. Between them they have no doubt saved several of my
fingers during machining or drilling. Also I appreciate the hard work
carried out by the occupants of the main Clarendon Workshop on my behalf,
and also by David T Smith, Johan Fopma and everyone in the Central
Electronics Group. Thanks also to everyone else in the
department---academic, administrative and support staff---who have been
consistently helpful and generous with their time.

My undergraduate tutor, Dr. Geoff Brooker, might be considered to be
indirectly to blame for everything presented here. His tuition was
inspirational, and showed me just how enjoyable physics could be. He has
recently offered advice on the work in this thesis, for which I am also
grateful. I must also mention Michael Bancroft, who provided so much
encouragement at school: thank you.

After so many years in Oxford I have friends far too numerous to thank
here individually. DougSoc, that indescribable, inscrutable society of
either `weirdos and oddballs' or `intellectual giants at play:' I'm glad I
have been able to come out to play with you all so many times, and I'm
grateful for the skinned knees and grass stains it left me with. Members
of Wadham, past and present: my friendships with you are what turned my
occupation of just another collection of limestone quadrangles into
something worthwhile. Friends from Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School: if
these acknowledgements were being read out at Speech Night, we'd all be
asleep by now, or running a book on what time it will all finish. I miss
your companionship, now we have all dispersed.

The emotional and financial assistance of my family has been
inexhaustible. I am grateful for the support, love and pride of my parents
and my Grandfather, and of my late Grandmother. Thank you so much; I love
you all and owe you a debt I can never repay. It only remains for me to
thank Kate: for the freaky faces she pulls and the squeaky noises she
makes; for the late-night telephone calls and the animal impressions; my
prop, my friend, my darlen.