We investigate in detail the effects of a QND vibrational number measu
rement made on single ions in a recently proposed measurement scheme f
or the vibrational state of a register of ions in a linear rf trap [C.
D'HELON and G. J. MILBURN, Phys Rev. A 54, 5141 (1996)]. The performa
nce of a measurement shows some interesting patterns which are closely
related to searching.