  Two techniques are described that simplify the experimental requirements for
measuring and manipulating quantum information stored in trapped ions. The
first is a new technique using electron shelving to measure the populations of
the Zeeman sublevels of the ground state, in an ion for which no cycling
transition exists from any of these sublevels. The second technique is laser
cooling to the vibrational ground state, without the need for a trap operating
in the Lamb-Dicke limit. This requires sideband cooling in a sub-recoil regime.
We present a thorough analysis of sideband cooling on one or a pair of
sidebands simultaneously.
