A microfabricated surface-electrode ion trap in silicon
J. Britton, D. Leibfried, J. Beall, R. B. Blakestad, J. J. Bollinger, J. Chiaverini, R. J. Epstein, J. D. Jost, D. Kielpinski, C. Langer, R. Ozeri, R. Reichle, … 展开作者
J. Britton, D. Leibfried, J. Beall, R. B. Blakestad, J. J. Bollinger, J. Chiaverini, R. J. Epstein, J. D. Jost, D. Kielpinski, C. Langer, R. Ozeri, R. Reichle, S. Seidelin, N. Shiga, J. H. Wesenberg, D. J. Wineland
The prospect of building a quantum information processor underlies many recent advances ion trap fabrication techniques. Potentially, a quantum computer could be constructed from a large array of interconnected ion traps. We report on a micrometer-scale ion trap, fabricated from bulk silicon using micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) techniques. The trap geometry is relatively simple in that the electrodes lie in a single plane beneath the ions. In such a trap we confine laser-cooled 24Mg+ ions approximately 40 microns above the surface. The fabrication technique and planar electrode geometry together make this approach amenable to scaling up to large trap arrays. In addition we observe that little laser cooling light is scattered by the electrodes.
We characterise the performance of a surface-electrode ion "chip" trap fabricated using established semiconductor integrated circuit and micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) microfabrication processes which are in principle scalable to much larger ion trap arrays, as proposed for implementing ion trap quantum information processing. We measure rf ion micromotion parallel and perpendicular to the plane of the trap electrodes, and find that on-package capacitors reduce this to <~ 10 nm in amplitude. We also measure ion trapping lifetime, charging effects due to laser light incident on the trap…
This submission is an introduction to microfabricated ion traps. We cover the basics of Paul traps, various geometries for realizing the traps, a number of design considerations, and, finally, a review of existing microfabricated traps.
For many quantum information implementations with trapped ions, effective shuttling operations are important. Here we discuss the efficient separation and recombination of ions in surface ion trap geometries. The maximum speed of separation and recombination of trapped ions for adiabatic shuttling operations depends on the secular frequencies the trapped ion experiences in the process. Higher secular frequencies during the transportation processes can be achieved by optimising trap geometries. We show how two different arrangements of segmented static potential electrodes in surface ion traps …
We demonstrate confinement of individual atomic ions in a radio-frequency Paul trap with a novel geometry where the electrodes are located in a single plane and the ions confined above this plane. This device is realized with a relatively simple fabrication procedure and has important implications for quantum state manipulation and quantum information processing using large numbers of ions. We confine laser-cooled Mg-24 ions approximately 40 micrometer above planar gold electrodes. We measure the ions' motional frequencies and compare them to simulations. From measurements of the escape time o…
Ion traps offer the opportunity to study fundamental quantum systems with high level of accuracy highly decoupled from the environment. Individual atomic ions can be controlled and manipulated with electric fields, cooled to the ground state of motion with laser cooling and coherently manipulated using optical and microwave radiation. Microfabricated ion traps hold the advantage of allowing for smaller trap dimensions and better scalability towards large ion trap arrays also making them a vital ingredient for next generation quantum technologies. Here we provide an introduction into the princi…
We trap individual $^{171}$Yb$^+$ ions in a surface trap microfabricated on a silicon substrate, and demonstrate a complete set of high fidelity single qubit operations for the hyperfine qubit. Trapping times exceeding 20 minutes without laser cooling, and heating rates as low as 0.8(0.1) quanta/ms indicate stable trapping conditions in these microtraps. A coherence time of more than one second, high fidelity qubit state detection and single qubit rotations are demonstrated.
In this paper we present the design, modeling, and experimental testing of surface electrode ion traps fabricated in a heterostructure configuration comprising a silicon substrate, silicon dioxide insulators, and aluminum electrodes. This linear trap has a geometry with symmetric RF leads, two interior DC electrodes, and 40 individual lateral DC electrodes. Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) was used to grow silicon dioxide pillars to electrically separate overhung aluminum electrodes from an aluminum ground plane. In addition to fabrication, we report techniques for modeling th…
We fabricate superconducting ion traps with niobium and niobium nitride and trap single 88Sr ions at cryogenic temperatures. The superconducting transition is verified and characterized by measuring the resistance and critical current using a 4-wire measurement on the trap structure, and observing change in the rf reflection. The lowest observed heating rate is 2.1(3) quanta/sec at 800 kHz at 6 K and shows no significant change across the superconducting transition, suggesting that anomalous heating is primarily caused by noise sources on the surface. This demonstration of superconducting ion …
We describe a novel monolithic ion trap that combines the flexibility and scalability of silicon microfabrication technologies with the superior trapping characteristics of traditional four-rod Paul traps. The performace of the proposed microfabricated trap approaches that of the macroscopic structures. The fabrication process creates an angled through-chip slot which allows backside ion loading and through-laser access while avoiding surface light scattering and dielectric charging. The trap geometry and dimensions are optimized for confining long ion chains with equal ion spacing [G.-D. Lin,…
We report the design, fabrication, and characterization of a microfabricated surface-electrode ion trap that supports controlled transport through the two-dimensional intersection of linear trapping zones arranged in a ninety-degree cross. The trap is fabricated with very-large-scalable-integration (VLSI) techniques which are compatible with scaling to a larger quantum information processor. The shape of the radio-frequency (RF) electrodes is optimized with a genetic algorithm to minimize axial pseudopotential barriers and to minimize ion heating during transport. Seventy-eight independent DC …
Dense array of ions in microfabricated traps represent one possible way to scale up ion trap quantum computing. The ability to address individual ions is an important component of such a scheme. We demonstrate individual addressing of trapped ions in a microfabricated surface-electrode trap using a magnetic field gradient generated on-chip. A frequency splitting of 310(2) kHz for two ions separated by 5 um is achieved. Selective single qubit operations are performed on one of two trapped ions with an average of 2.2+/-1.0% crosstalk. Coherence time as measured by the spin-echo technique is unaf…
A novel approach to optics integration in ion traps is demonstrated based on a surface electrode ion trap that is microfabricated on top of a dielectric mirror. Additional optical losses due to fabrication are found to be as low as 80 ppm for light at 422 nm. The integrated mirror is used to demonstrate light collection from, and imaging of, a single 88 Sr+ ion trapped $169\pm4 μ$m above the mirror.
We report on experiments with a microfabricated surface trap designed for trapping a chain of ions in a ring. Uniform ion separation over most of the ring is achieved with a rotationally symmetric design and by measuring and suppressing undesired electric fields. After minimizing these fields the ions are confined primarily by an rf trapping pseudo-potential and their mutual Coulomb repulsion. The ring-shaped crystal consists of approximately 400 Ca$^+$ ions with an estimated average separation of 9 $μm$.
In order to study interactions of atomic ions with ultracold neutral atoms, it is important to have sub-$μ$m control over positioning ion crystals. Serving for this purpose, we introduce a microfabricated planar ion trap featuring 21 DC electrodes. The ion trap is controlled by a home-made FPGA voltage source providing independently variable voltages to each of the DC electrodes. To assure stable positioning of ion crystals with respect to trapped neutral atoms, we integrate into the overall design a compact mirror magneto optical chip trap (mMOT) for cooling and confining neutral $^{87}$Rb at…
Trapped ions are a leading system for realizing quantum information processing (QIP). Most of the technologies required for implementing large-scale trapped-ion QIP have been demonstrated, with one key exception: a massively parallel ion-photon interconnect. Arrays of microfabricated phase Fresnel lenses (PFL) are a promising interconnect solution that is readily integrated with ion trap arrays for large-scale QIP. Here we show the first imaging of trapped ions with a microfabricated in-vacuum PFL, demonstrating performance suitable for scalable QIP. A single ion fluorescence collection effici…
Recent advances in quantum information processing with trapped ions have demonstrated the need for new ion trap architectures capable of holding and manipulating chains of many (>10) ions. Here we present the design and detailed characterization of a new linear trap, microfabricated with scalable complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) techniques, that is well-suited to this challenge. Forty-four individually controlled DC electrodes provide the many degrees of freedom required to construct anharmonic potential wells, shuttle ions, merge and split ion chains, precisely tune secular mode…
The advent of microfabricated ion traps for the quantum information community has allowed research groups to build traps that incorporate an unprecedented number of trapping zones. However, as device complexity has grown, the number of digital-to-analog converter (DAC) channels needed to control these devices has grown as well, with some of the largest trap assemblies now requiring nearly one hundred DAC channels. Providing electrical connections for these channels into a vacuum chamber can be bulky and difficult to scale beyond the current numbers of trap electrodes. This paper reports on the…
We describe the design, fabrication and testing of a surface-electrode ion trap, which incorporates microwave waveguides, resonators and coupling elements for the manipulation of trapped ion qubits using near-field microwaves. The trap is optimised to give a large microwave field gradient to allow state-dependent manipulation of the ions' motional degrees of freedom, the key to multiqubit entanglement. The microwave field near the centre of the trap is characterised by driving hyperfine transitions in a single laser-cooled 43Ca+ ion.
Microfabricated ion traps are a major advancement towards scalable quantum computing with trapped ions. The development of more versatile ion-trap designs, in which tailored arrays of ions are positioned in two dimensions above a microfabricated surface, would lead to applications in fields as varied as quantum simulation, metrology and atom-ion interactions. Current surface ion traps often have low trap depths and high heating rates, due to the size of the voltages that can be applied to them, limiting the fidelity of quantum gates. Here we report on a fabrication process that allows for the …
State-of-the-art microfabricated ion traps for quantum information research are approaching nearly one hundred control electrodes. We report here on the development and testing of a new architecture for microfabricated ion traps, built around ball-grid array (BGA) connections, that is suitable for increasingly complex trap designs. In the BGA trap, through-substrate vias bring electrical signals from the back side of the trap die to the surface trap structure on the top side. Gold-ball bump bonds connect the back side of the trap die to an interposer for signal routing from the carrier. Trench…
We propose to apply atom-chip techniques to the trapping of a single atom in a circular Rydberg state. The small size of microfabricated structures will allow for trap geometries with microwave cut-off frequencies high enough to inhibit the spontaneous emission of the Rydberg atom, paving the way to complete control of both external and internal degrees of freedom over very long times. Trapping is achieved using carefully designed electric fields, created by a simple pattern of electrodes. We show that it is possible to excite, and then trap, one and only one Rydberg atom from a cloud of groun…
Trapped atomic ions are a proven and powerful tool for the fundamental research of quantum physics. They have emerged in recent years as one of the most promising candidates for several practical technologies including quantum computers, quantum simulators, atomic clocks, mass spectrometers and quantum sensors. Advanced fabrication techniques, taken from established and nascent disciplines, are being deployed to create novel, reliable devices with a view to large scale integration and commercial compatibility. This review will cover the fundamentals of ion trapping before proceeding with a dis…
Microfabricated surface ion traps are a principle component of many ion-based quantum information science platforms. The operational parameters of these devices are pushed to the edge of their physical capabilities as the experiments strive for increasing performance. When the applied radio-frequency (RF) voltage is increased too much, the devices can experience damaging electric discharge events known as RF breakdown. We introduce two novel techniques for in situ detection of RF breakdown, which we implemented while characterizing the breakdown threshold of surface ion traps produced at Sandi…
We demonstrate universal quantum control over chains of ions in a surface-electrode ion trap, including all the fundamental operations necessary to perform algorithms in a one-dimensional, nearest-neighbor quantum computing architecture. We realize both single-qubit operations and nearest-neighbor entangling gates with Raman laser beams, and we interleave the two gate types. We report average single-qubit gate fidelities as high as 0.970(1) for two-, three-, and four-ion chains, characterized with randomized benchmarking. We generate Bell states between the nearest-neighbor pairs of a three-io…
Laser-cleaning of the electrodes in a planar micro-fabricated ion trap has been attempted using ns pulses from a tripled Nd:YAG laser at 355nm. The effect of the laser pulses at several energy density levels has been tested by measuring the heating rate of a single 40Ca+ trapped ion as a function of its secular frequency. A reduction of the electric-field noise spectral density by ~50% has been observed and a change in the frequency dependence also noticed. This is the first reported experiment where the "anomalous heating" phenomenon has been reduced by removing the source as opposed to reduc…
The majority of microfabricated ion traps in use for quantum information processing are of the 2D 'surface-electrode' type or of the 3D 'wafer' type. Surface-electrode traps greatly simplify fabrication and hold the promise of allowing trapped-ion quantum computers to scale via standard semiconductor industry fabrication techniques. However, their geometry constrains them to having much lower trapping efficiency, depth, and harmonicity compared to 3D geometries. Conversely 3D geometries offer superior trap performance but fabrication is more complex, limiting potential to scale. We describe ne…
With the demand for improved performance in microfabricated devices, the necessity to apply greater electric fields and voltages becomes evident. When operating in vacuum, the voltage is typically limited by surface flashover forming along the surface of a dielectric. By modifying the fabrication process we have discovered it is possible to more than double the flashover voltage. Our finding has significant impact on the realization of next-generation micro- and nano-fabricated devices and for the fabrication of on-chip ion trap arrays for the realization of scalable ion quantum technology.
The fidelity of laser-driven quantum logic operations on trapped ion qubits tend to be lower than microwave-driven logic operations due to the difficulty of stabilizing the driving fields at the ion location. Through stabilization of the driving optical fields and use of composite pulse sequences, we demonstrate high fidelity single-qubit gates for the hyperfine qubit of a $^{171}\text{Yb}^+$ ion trapped in a microfabricated surface electrode ion trap. Gate error is characterized using a randomized benchmarking protocol, and an average error per randomized Clifford group gate of $3.6(3)\times1…
In ion trap quantum information processing, efficient fluorescence collection is critical for fast, high-fidelity qubit detection and ion-photon entanglement. The expected size of future many-ion processors require scalable light collection systems. We report on the development and testing of a microfabricated surface-electrode ion trap with an integrated high numerical aperture (NA) micromirror for fluorescence collection. When coupled to a low NA lens, the optical system is inherently scalable to large arrays of mirrors in a single device. We demonstrate stable trapping and transport of 40Ca…
Atomic ions trapped in ultra-high vacuum form an especially well-understood and useful physical system for quantum information processing. They provide excellent shielding of quantum information from environmental noise, while strong, well-controlled laser interactions readily provide quantum logic gates. A number of basic quantum information protocols have been demonstrated with trapped ions. Much current work aims at the construction of large-scale ion-trap quantum computers using complex microfabricated trap arrays. Several groups are also actively pursuing quantum interfacing of trapped io…
We report heating rate measurements in a microfabricated gold-on-sapphire surface electrode ion trap with trapping height of approximately 240 micron. Using the Doppler recooling method, we characterize the trap heating rates over an extended region of the trap. The noise spectral density of the trap falls in the range of noise spectra reported in ion traps at room temperature. We find that during the first months of operation the heating rates increase by approximately one order of magnitude. The increase in heating rates is largest in the ion loading region of the trap, providing a strong hi…
We report on the design, fabrication, and preliminary testing of a 150 zone array built in a `surface-electrode' geometry microfabricated on a single substrate. We demonstrate transport of atomic ions between legs of a `Y'-type junction and measure the in-situ heating rates for the ions. The trap design demonstrates use of a basic component design library that can be quickly assembled to form structures optimized for a particular experiment.
We demonstrate a method for loading surface electrode ion traps by electron impact ionization. The method relies on the property of surface electrode geometries that the trap depth can be increased at the cost of more micromotion. By introducing a buffer gas, we can counteract the rf heating assocated with the micromotion and benefit from the larger trap depth. After an initial loading of the trap, standard compensation techniques can be used to cancel the stray fields resulting from charged dielectric and allow for the loading of the trap at ultra-high vacuum.
Dense arrays of trapped ions provide one way of scaling up ion trap quantum information processing. However, miniaturization of ion traps is currently limited by sharply increasing motional state decoherence at sub-100 um ion-electrode distances. We characterize heating rates in cryogenically cooled surface-electrode traps, with characteristic sizes in 75 um to 150 um range. Upon cooling to 6 K, the measured rates are suppressed by 7 orders of magnitude, two orders of magnitude below previously published data of similarly sized traps operated at room temperature. The observed noise depends str…
We investigate a surface-mounted electrode geometry for miniature linear radio frequency Paul ion traps. The electrodes reside in a single plane on a substrate, and the pseudopotential minimum of the trap is located above the substrate at a distance on order of the electrodes' lateral extent or separation. This architecture provides the possibility to apply standard microfabrication principles to the construction of multiplexed ion traps, which may be of particular importance in light of recent proposals for large-scale quantum computation based on individual trapped ions.
We present a design for the experimental integration of ion trapping and superconducting qubit systems as a step towards the realization of a quantum hybrid system. The scheme addresses two key difficulties in realizing such a system; a combined microfabricated ion trap and superconducting qubit architecture, and the experimental infrastructure to facilitate both technologies. Developing upon work by Kielpinski et al. [1] we describe the design, simulation and fabrication process for a microfabricated ion trap capable of coupling an ion to a superconducting microwave LC circuit with a coupling…
Surface-electrode (SE) rf traps are a promising approach to manufacturing complex ion-trap networks suitable for large-scale quantum information processing. In this paper we present analytical methods for modeling SE traps in the gapless plane approximation, and apply these methods to two particular classes of SE traps. For the SE ring trap we derive analytical expressions for the trap geometry and strength, and also calculate the depth in the absence of control fields. For translationally symmetric multipole configurations (analogs of the linear Paul trap), we derive analytical expressions fo…
With a 9Be+ trapped-ion hyperfine-states qubit, we demonstrate an error probability per randomized single-qubit gate of 2.0(2) x 10^-5, below the threshold estimate of 10^-4 commonly considered sufficient for fault-tolerant quantum computing. The 9Be+ ion is trapped above a microfabricated surface-electrode ion trap and is manipulated with microwaves applied to a trap electrode. The achievement of low single-qubit-gate errors is an essential step toward the construction of a scalable quantum computer.
The oscillation coupling and different nonlinear effects are observed in a single trapped $^{40}Ca^{+}$ ion confined in our home-built surface-electrode trap (SET). The coupling and the nonlinearity are originated from the high-order multipole potentials due to different layouts and the fabrication asymmetry of the SET. We solve a complicated Duffing equation with coupled oscillation terms by the multiple scale method, which fits the experimental values very well. Our investigation in the SET helps for exploring nonlinearity using currently available techniques and for suppressing instability …
We describe an ex-situ surface-cleaning procedure that is shown to reduce motional heating from ion-trap electrodes. This precleaning treatment, to be implemented immediately before the final assembly and vacuum processing of ion traps, removes surface contaminants remaining after the electrode-fabrication process. We incorporate a multi-angle ion-bombardment treatment intended to clean the electrode surfaces and interelectrode gaps of microfabricated traps. This procedure helps to minimize redeposition in the gaps between electrodes that can cause electrical shorts. We report heating rates in…
We demonstrate loading by laser ablation of $^{88}$Sr$^+$ ions into a mm-scale surface-electrode ion trap. The laser used for ablation is a pulsed, frequency-tripled Nd:YAG with pulse energies of 1-10 mJ and durations of 3-5 ns. An additional laser is not required to photoionize the ablated material. The efficiency and lifetime of several candidate materials for the laser ablation target are characterized by measuring the trapped ion fluorescence signal for a number of consecutive loads. Additionally, laser ablation is used to load traps with a trap depth (40 meV) below where electron impact i…
We experimentally demonstrate novel structures for the realisation of registers of atomic qubits: We trap neutral atoms in one and two-dimensional arrays of far-detuned dipole traps obtained by focusing a red-detuned laser beam with a microfabricated array of microlenses. We are able to selectively address individual trap sites due to their large lateral separation of 125 mu m. We initialize and read out different internal states for the individual sites. We also create two interleaved sets of trap arrays with adjustable separation, as required for many proposed implementations of quantum gate…
Demonstration of transport in an ion trap design for two-dimensional lattices
Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Innsbruck（因斯布鲁克大学实验物理研究所）；Infineon Technologies Austria AG（英飞凌奥地利股份公司）；Department of Physics, Stockholm University（斯德哥尔摩大学物理系）；Alpine Quantum Technologies GmbH（阿尔卑斯量子技术有限责任公司）
We demonstrate a two-qubit logic gate driven by near-field microwaves in a room-temperature microfabricated ion trap. We measure a gate fidelity of 99.7(1)\%, which is above the minimum threshold required for fault-tolerant quantum computing. The gate is applied directly to $^{43}$Ca$^+$ "atomic clock" qubits (coherence time $T_2^*\approx 50\,\mathrm{s}$) using the microwave magnetic field gradient produced by a trap electrode. We introduce a dynamically-decoupled gate method, which stabilizes the qubits against fluctuating a.c.\ Zeeman shifts and avoids the need to null the microwave field.
We measure and characterize anomalous motional decoherence of an atomic ion confined in the lowest quantum levels of a novel rf ion trap that features moveable electrodes. The scaling of decoherence rate with electrode proximity is measured, and when the electrodes are cooled from 300 K to 150 K, the decoherence rate is suppressed by an order of magnitude. This provides direct evidence that anomalous motional decoherence of trapped ions stems from microscopic noisy potentials on the electrodes. These observations are relevant to quantum information processing schemes using trapped ions or othe…
Chiaverini et al. [Quant. Inf. Comput. 5, 419 (2005)] recently suggested a linear Paul trap geometry for ion trap quantum computation that places all of the electrodes in a plane. Such planar ion traps are compatible with modern semiconductor fabrication techniques and can be scaled to make compact, many zone traps. In this paper we present an experimental realization of planar ion traps using electrodes on a printed circuit board to trap linear chains of tens of 0.44 micron diameter charged particles in a vacuum of 15 Pa (0.1 torr). With these traps we address concerns about the low trap dept…
We study the problem of designing electrode structures that allow pairs of ions to be brought together and separated rapidly in an array of linear Paul traps. We show that it is desirable for the electrode structure to produce a d.c. octupole moment with an a.c. radial quadrupole. For the case where electrical breakdown limits the voltages that can be applied, we show that the octupole is more demanding than the quadrupole when the characteristic distance scale of the structure is larger than 1 to 10 microns (for typical materials). We present a variety of approaches and optimizations of struc…
Oscillating magnetic fields and field gradients can be used to implement single-qubit rotations and entangling multi-qubit quantum gates for trapped-ion quantum information processing (QIP). With fields generated by currents in microfabricated surface-electrode traps, it should be possible to achieve gate speeds that are comparable to those of optically induced gates for realistic distances between the ion crystal and the electrode surface. Magnetic-field-mediated gates have the potential to significantly reduce the overhead in laser beam control and motional state initialization compared to c…
Cryogenic Time-Division-Multiplexed Voltage Control for Scalable Trapped-Ion Quantum Processors
QuEL, Inc.（QuEL公司）；Center for Quantum Information and Quantum Biology, The University of Osaka（大阪大学量子信息与量子生物学中心）；International Center for Elementary Particle Physics (ICEPP), The University of Tokyo（东京大学 elementary 粒子物理国际中心）；Komaba Institute for Science (KIS), The University of Tokyo（东京大学驹场理学研究所）；e-trees. Japan, Inc.（e-trees日本公司）；RIKEN Center for Quantum Computing (RQC)（理化学研究所量子计算中心）；Inamori Research Institute for Science (InaRIS)（稻盛科学研究所）
We report on the characterization of heating rates and photo-induced electric charging on a microfabricated surface ion trap with integrated waveguides. Microfabricated surface ion traps have received considerable attention as a quantum information platform due to their scalability and manufacturability. Here we characterize the delivery of 435 nm light through waveguides and diffractive couplers to a single ytterbium ion in a compact trap. We measure an axial heating rate at room temperature of $0.78\pm0.05$ q/ms and see no increase due to the presence of the waveguide. Furthermore, the elect…
We demonstrate quantum control techniques for a single trapped ion in a cryogenic, surface-electrode trap. A narrow optical transition of Sr+ along with the ground and first excited motional states of the harmonic trapping potential form a two-qubit system. The optical qubit transition is susceptible to magnetic field fluctuations, which we stabilize with a simple and compact method using superconducting rings. Decoherence of the motional qubit is suppressed by the cryogenic environment. AC Stark shift correction is accomplished by controlling the laser phase in the pulse sequencer, eliminatin…
We implement all single-qubit operations with fidelities significantly above the minimum threshold required for fault-tolerant quantum computing, using a trapped-ion qubit stored in hyperfine "atomic clock" states of $^{43}$Ca$^+$. We measure a combined qubit state preparation and single-shot readout fidelity of 99.93%, a memory coherence time of $T^*_2=50$ seconds, and an average single-qubit gate fidelity of 99.9999%. These results are achieved in a room-temperature microfabricated surface trap, without the use of magnetic field shielding or dynamic decoupling techniques to overcome technica…
We present approximate methods for calculating the three-dimensional electric potentials of finite surface electrodes including gaps between electrodes, and estimate the effects of finite electrode thickness and an underlying dielectric substrate. As an example we optimize a radio-frequency surface-electrode ring ion trap, and find that each of these factors reduces the trapping secular frequencies by less than 5% in realistic situations. This small magnitude validates the usual assumption of neglecting the influences of gaps between electrodes and finite electrode extent.
We report room-temperature electric field noise measurements combined with in-situ surface characterization and cleaning of a microfabricated ion trap. We used a single-ion electric field noise sensor in combination with surface cleaning and analysis tools, to investigate the relationship between electric field noise from metal surfaces in vacuum and the composition of the surface. These experiments were performed in a novel setup that integrates ion trapping capabilities with surface analysis tools. We find that surface cleaning of an aluminum-copper surface significantly reduces the level of…
We have investigated motional heating of laser-cooled 9Be+ ions held in radio-frequency (Paul) traps. We have measured heating rates in a variety of traps with different geometries, electrode materials, and characteristic sizes. The results show that heating is due to electric-field noise from the trap electrodes which exerts a stochastic fluctuating force on the ion. The scaling of the heating rate with trap size is much stronger than that expected from a spatially uniform noise source on the electrodes (such as Johnson noise from external circuits), indicating that a microscopic uncorrelated…
