Physics with electrostatic rings and traps

The recent development of electrostatic devices which allow us to store keV ion beams has launched several new kinds of investigations. We review the basic ideas behind the development of the electrostatic ion storage ring and the electrostatic ion beam trap techniques. The various experiments performed with atomic and molecular ion beams, ranging from the measurement of lifetimes of metastable atomic states up to biological applications and single component plasma studies are discussed.