Second-sideband laser cooling and nonclassical motion of trapped ions

Laser sideband cooling of trapped ions is studied in a standing wave for localization conditions far from the Lamb-Dicke limit. Cooling is shown to be possible even in the antinode of a standing wave, where in the Lamb-Dicke limit only heating appears. Tuning the laser to the second-sideband increases the cooling effect significantly. Moreover, second-sideband cooling is expected to yield a nonclassical, sub-Poissonian occupation statistics of the vibrational states of the ion.