A grooved planar ion trap design for scalable quantum information processing

We describe a new electrode design for a grooved surface-electrode ion trap,which is fabricated in printed-circuitboard technology with segmented electrodes.This design allows a laser beam to get through the central groove to avoid optical access blocking and laser scattering from the ion trap surface.The confining potentials are modeled both analytically and numerically.We optimize the radio frequency(rf) electrodes and dc electrodes to achieve the maximum trap depth for a given ion height above the trap electrodes.We also compare our design with the reality ion chip MI I for practical considerations.Comparison results show that our design is superior to MI I.This ion trap design may form the basis for large scale quantum computers or parallel quadrupole mass spectrometers.     

Ra+ ion trapping: toward an atomic parity violation measurement and an optical clock

A single Ra⁺ ion stored in a Paul radio frequency ion trap has excellent potential for a precision measurement of the electroweak mixing angle at low momentum transfer and as the most stable optical clock. The effective transport and cooling of singly charged ions of the isotopes ²⁰⁹Ra to ²¹⁴Ra in a gas filled radio frequency quadrupole device is reported. The absolute frequencies of the transition 7s²S_1/2–7d²D_3/2 at wavelength 828 nm have been determined in ^212–214Ra⁺ with ≤19 MHz uncertainty using laser spectroscopy on small samples of ions trapped in a linear Paul trap at the online facility Trapped Radioactive Isotopes: µicrolaboratories for fundamental Physics (TRIµP) of the Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut.     

可扩展的用于量子信息处理的刻槽平面离子芯片设计

研究设计了一个有效的可扩展的二维刻槽离子芯片。为了减少激光在离子芯片表面的散射,使被囚禁离子更加稳定,并使激光容易控制和探测成行的被囚禁离子,在每两个平行的射频电极中间刻槽使冷却光和探测光路径可穿过芯片。把控制离子运动的直流电极跟射频电极分开,减轻了不同电压对被囚禁离子的干扰,改进了对离子的控制。用有限元分析的方法对芯片表面上方的电势分布做了计算模拟。模拟结果表明,在这种新型的刻槽可扩展芯片上可以生成一个可扩展的离子阱阵列。这种结构提供了一个新颖的刻槽二维平面离子芯片,被囚禁其上的线形离子阵列可用来进行大型的量子信息处理。     

On the application of radio frequency voltages to ion traps via helical resonators

Ions confined using a Paul trap require a stable, high voltage and low noise radio frequency (RF) potential. We present a guide for the design and construction of a helical coil resonator for a desired frequency that maximises the quality factor for a set of experimental constraints. We provide an in-depth analysis of the system formed from a shielded helical coil and an ion trap by treating the system as a lumped element model. This allows us to predict the resonant frequency and quality factor in terms of the physical parameters of the resonator and the properties of the ion trap. We also compare theoretical predictions with experimental data for different resonators, and predict the voltage applied to the ion trap as a function of the Q factor, input power and the properties of the resonant circuit.     

Measurement of Secular Motion Frequency in Miniature Paul Trap to Ascertain the Stability Parameters

40Ca＋ ions are trapped and laser cooled in a miniature Paul trap. The secular motion was observed by the radio-frequency resonance of the ion cloud and Zeeman profile sidebands of a single ion experimentally. The trap stability parameters a and q are determined with an uncertainty under 1% by the secular motion frequency measurement. The trap efficiency is 0.75. A practicable suggestion is given for the benefits of a new trap design.     

Paul阱中离子运动及稳定性分析

Paul离子阱由于没有外加磁场所引起的塞曼效应的影响,已成为离子存储及研究离子的重要装置.根据在实验中所采用的Paul离子阱结构及电场分布特点,列出阱内离子运动方程并进行求解,对其中各种运动进行分析,同时还分析了离子存储稳定性.最后对所作的研究进行总结,得到如下结论:阱中离子的运动为谐振运动、基频微运动和高阶微振动.     

Wavelength-scale imaging of trapped ions using a phase Fresnel lens

A microfabricated phase Fresnel lens was used to image ytterbium ions trapped in a radio frequency Paul trap. The ions were laser cooled close to the Doppler limit on the 369.5 nm transition, reducing the ion motion so that each ion formed a near point source. By detecting the ion fluorescence on the same transition, near-diffraction-limited imaging with spot sizes of below 440 nm (FWHM) was achieved. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of wavelength-scale imaging of trapped ions and the highest imaging resolution ever achieved with atoms in free space.     

Two-species Coulomb chains for quantum information

We study from the point of view of quantum information the properties of the collective oscillations of a linear chain of ions trapped in a linear Paul trap and composed of two ion species. We discuss extensively sympathetic cooling of the chain and the effect of anharmonicity on laser-cooling and quantum-information processing. Received 19 May 2000     

Microfabricated surface-electrode ion trap for scalable quantum information processing

Individual laser-cooled 24Mg+ ions are confined in a linear Paul trap with a novel geometry where gold electrodes are located in a single plane and the ions are trapped 40 microm above this plane. The relatively simple trap design and fabrication procedure are important for large-scale quantum information processing (QIP) using ions. Measured ion motional frequencies are compared to simulations. Measurements of ion recooling after cooling is temporarily suspended yield a heating rate of approximately 5 motional quanta per millisecond for a trap frequency of 2.83 MHz, sufficiently low to be useful for QIP.     

线型离子阱中空间电荷效应的理论分析

线型离子阱中的离子在射频场作用下做宏观的久期运动,久期运动频率与实验参数有关.但当离子阱中囚禁大量同种电荷的离子时,空间电荷效应会导致离子间存在相互排斥的库仑力,使离子的运动频率发生漂移.本文通过求解泊松方程计算了空间电荷产生的附加电场的解析表达式,在小振动近似下理论计算了该附加电场对久期运动频率的影响,模拟了不同离子云中心密度下久期频率的漂移,讨论了离子云的数目、温度与实验参数之间的关系.对用离子阱进行的频标实验、碰撞实验和其他方面的研究都具有重要的指导意义.     

Long-term drifts of stray electric fields in a Paul trap

We investigate the evolution of quasi-static stray electric fields in a linear Paul trap over a period of several months. Depending on how these electric fields are initially induced, we observe very different timescales for the field drifts. Photo-induced electric fields decay on timescales of days. We interpret this as photo-electrically generated charges on insulating materials which decay via discharge currents. In contrast, stray fields due to the exposure of the ion trap to a beam of Ba atoms mainly exhibit slow dynamics on the order of months. We explain this observation as a consequence of a coating of the trap electrodes by the atomic beam. This may lead to contact potentials which can slowly drift over time due to atomic diffusion and chemical processes on the surface. In order not to perturb the field evolutions, we suppress the generation of additional charges and atomic coatings in the Paul trap during the measurements. For this, we shield the ion trap from ambient light and only allow the use of near-infrared lasers. Furthermore, we minimize the flux of atoms into the ion trap chamber. Long-term operation of our shielded trap led us to a regime of very low residual electric field drifts of less than 0.03 V/m per day.     

Towards a nuclear charge radius determination for beryllium isotopes

We propose determination of isotope shifts for radioactive beryllium isotopes using laser cooled ions in a linear radio frequency (RF) trap. Based on these measurements, combined with precise mass shift calculations, it will be possible to extract model-independent nuclear charge radii of ^7,9,10Be and the one-neutron halo ¹¹Be with precision better than 3%. Radioactive beryllium isotopes produced at ISOLDE and ionized with a laser ion source will be cooled and bunched in the radio frequency quadrupole buncher of ISOLTRAP. Ion temperatures will be reduced to the mK range by sympathetic cooling with co-trapped laser cooled ions in a specially designed two-stage linear RF trap. Resonances will be detected via fluorescence and frequencies measured with a femtosecond frequency comb.     

Optimization of parameters of a surface-electrode ion trap and experimental study of influences of surface on ion lifetime

In this paper we report the optimal design and fabrication of a gold-on-silica linear segmented surface-electrode ion trap. By optimizing the thickness and width of the electrodes, we improved the trapping ability and trap scalability. By using some practical experimental operation methods, we successfully minimized the trap heating rate. Consequently, we could trap a string of up to 38 ions, and a zigzag structure with 24 ions, and transport two trapped ions to different zones. We also studied the influences of the ion chip surface on the ion lifetime. The excellent trapping ability and flexibility of operation of the planar ion trap shows that it has high feasibility for application in the development a practical quantum information processor or quantum simulator.     

A linear combined trap for on-line spectroscopy

The linear combined trap is a superposition of the conventional Paul and Penning traps in one device. Using a four-rod structure, a linear configuration can be constructed. Such a linear combined trap is particularly well suited for catching ions produced externally, since both the effective potential due to the driving RF-field and the DC-magnetic field contribute to the ion confinement. The use of this novel trap for on-line laser and mass-spectroscopy of rare short-lived isotopes is proposed.     

Linear Paul trap design for an optical clock with Coulomb crystals

We report on the design of a segmented linear Paul trap for optical clock applications using trapped ion Coulomb crystals. For an optical clock with an improved short-term stability and a fractional frequency uncertainty of 10^?18, we propose ¹¹⁵In⁺ ions sympathetically cooled by ¹⁷²Yb⁺. We discuss the systematic frequency shifts of such a frequency standard. In particular, we elaborate on high-precision calculations of the electric radiofrequency field of the ion trap using the finite element method. These calculations are used to find a scalable design with minimized excess micromotion of the ions at a level at which the corresponding second-order Doppler shift contributes less than 10^?18 to the relative uncertainty of the frequency standard.     

Isotope separation by nonlinear resonances in a Paul trap

Deviations from the ideal quadrupole potential in a Paul ion trap create nonlinear resonances at certain operating points inside the stability diagram, where in the absence of potential pertubations storing times are very long. In the presence of those pertubations, however, the ions are lost from the trap. Since these resonances are mass dependent and the mass resolution is of the order of 100 it can be used to separate isotopes of a given element by choosing suitable trap operating conditions. Experiments on a natural mixture of Eu⁺ ions of mass 151 and 153 show that in a simple way, by proper choice of the operating point, the ions can be completely separated and laser-induced optical spectra of a single isotope can be received. This is the first time that mass separation in a Paul trap is performed by nonlinear effects in contrast to the usual way of using the mass dependent boundaries of the stability diagram     

Determination of the geometric parameters κz and κr of a linear Paul trap

An effective method for determining the geometric parameters of a linear Paul trap is provided and carried out in this paper. The method is based on exciting the secular motion of laser-cooled Ca⁺ ions in a linear Paul trap with varied trapping potentials. Taking advantage of the segmented structure of the linear Paul trap, both the axial and the radial geometric parameters are obtained by applying external excitation fields to the trapping electrodes directly. The axial geometric parameter of our linear Paul trap is determined to be 0.374(3), and, for the first time, the radial geometric parameter is determined to be 0.928(2).     

Simple and efficient photo-ionization loading of ions for precision ion-trapping experiments

We report a simple and efficient method to load a Paul trap with Ca⁺ ions. A beam of neutral atomic calcium is ionized in a two-step photo-ionization process using uv-diode lasers near 423 nm and 390 nm. Photo-ionization of a calcium beam for loading a Paul trap has first been demonstrated by Kjaergaard et al. The advantages of our method are the use of cheap and easily handled diode-laser systems and the large cross section for field ionization when exciting high-lying Rydberg states. Finally, we discuss the advantages of photo-ionization for ion generation compared to loading by electron bombardment. Received: 24 August 2001 / Revised version: 16 October 2001 / Published online: 23 November 2001     

Experimental Improvement of Signal of a Single Laser-Cooled Trapped ^40Ca^＋ Ion

A single ^40Ca^＋ ion is loaded in a miniature Paul trap and the probability of directly loading a single ion is above 50%. The signal-to-noise ratio and the storage time for a single ion have been improved by minimizing the ion micromotion and locking a 397nm cooling laser to a Fabry-Perot interferometer and optogalvanic signal. From the fluorescence spectrum, the ion temperature is estimated to be about 5mK.     

Paul阱中存储离子的研究

根据Paul离子阱结构及电场分布特点,列出阱内离子运动方程并求解,对其中离子运动、硅团簇离子碰撞解离反应进行了分析.