  We report on a novel non-invasive method to determine the normal mode
frequencies of ion Coulomb crystals in traps based on the resonance enhanced
collective coupling between the electronic states of the ions and an optical
cavity field at the single photon level. Excitations of the normal modes are
observed through a Doppler broadening of the resonance. An excellent agreement
with the predictions of a zero-temperature uniformly charged liquid plasma
model is found. The technique opens up for investigations of the heating and
damping of cold plasma modes, as well as the coupling between them.
