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arXiv:0903.0039 · Optics Express

Single-particle motional oscillator powered by laser

A. E. Kaplan

Published Jun 1, 2009• 21 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

An ion, atom, molecule or macro-particle in a trap can exhibit large motional oscillations due to the Doppler-affected radiation pressure by a laser, blue-detuned from an absorption line of a particle. This oscillator can be nearly thresholdless, but under certain conditions it may exhibit huge hysteretic excitation. Feasible applications include a "Foucault pendulum" in a trap, a rotation sensor, single atom spectroscopy, isotope separation, etc.

DOI
10.1364/oe.17.010035

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An ion, atom, molecule or macro-particle in a trap can exhibit large motional oscillations due to the Doppler-affected radiation pressure by a laser, blue-detuned from an absorption line of a particle. This oscillator can be nearly thresholdless, but under certain conditions it may exhibit huge hysteretic excitation. Feasible applications include a "Foucault pendulum" in a trap, a rotation sensor, single atom spectroscopy, isotope separation, etc.
Summary form only given. Self-sustained oscillations/oscillators (SSO), man-made or naturally occurring, are some of the most universal phenomena. The common feature of all SSO is the so called positive feedback, which overcomes the damping by properly controlling the energy supply (pumping) from the outside source during the cycle of oscillations. Usually, the zero steady-state point of the system is unstable, and the oscillations grow up till they reach a stable limit cycle. The common quality of the resulting SSO is their well defined amplitude (the so called classical squeezing) at the expense of undetermined phase of oscillations. All the "mechanical motion" SSO known so far, were based on macro-systems, while it would be of great importance to develop a microscopic SS-oscillator based on a single particle (atom or ion), which would enable us to control the SSO mode from classical to quantum limits. The effect proposed is based on the interaction of a standing laser wave with an atom moving in along the laser beam propagation. If the laser beam is red-shifted with respect to the resonant absorption line of the atom at rest, the moving atom will experience deaccelerating force induced by a standing wave due to combinations of Doppler shifts in counterpropagating waves; this effect is at the core of laser cooling of atoms. On the other hand, if the laser wave is blue-shifted, the atom will undergo acceleration (positive feedback) in the laser field due to the Doppler-shift, which can be used for excitation of atomic SSO.
Cooling of atoms and ions using a red-detuned laser has had a profound impact on science and technology. In this work simultaneous laser cooling and blue-detuned laser pumping of a Mg+ ion in a Paul trap is studied. Blue-detuned pumping is conventionally referred to as the heating regime, and in early work, remarkably complex behaviors (bistability and limit cycles) have been associated with this regime. These behaviors have so far not been fully explained. Here, it is shown that blue-detuned pumping, as opposed to heating, causes stimulated emission of center-of-mass phonons, leading to coherent oscillatory motion of the ion in analogy with a laser. Mechanical amplification is calculated as well as the threshold pumping condition for oscillation. A single ion in a linear radio-frequency trap is studied to verify these predictions. Blue-detuned pumping of the magnesium D2 transition at 279.6 nm provides amplification along the long axis of the ion trap so as to excite only axial oscillations. A slightly off-axis, red-detuned beam cools the center-of-mass motion to approximately 1 mK.
A range of experimental techniques for application in reaction studies between ionic and neutral atoms/molecules and high resolution spectroscopy experiments with sympathetically cooled molecular ions are presented. A novel ion trap loading scheme using the photo-ionisation of atoms generated by the pulsed laser ablation of a solid calcium target has been characterised. We have identified the range of ablation laser fluences that must be used in order to produce a flux of neutral calcium atoms, which is a prerequisite for isotope selective ion trap loading. Calcium ions are trapped and laser cooled in a linear radio-frequency ion trap. We have developed a spectroscopy scheme that allows the entire fluorescence spectrum of trapped ions to be rapidly collected with high precision while maintaining a low ion temperature and good ion localisation throughout interrogation. The scheme has been demonstrated by measuring the saturation intensity of the calcium ion 4S1/2?4P1/2 transition. We have developed a novel scheme to measure the secular motion of trapped ions and demonstrated the application of the technique to ion-neutral collision reaction experiments. Employing pulsed excitation and Doppler velocimetry, we have measured the centre-of-mass mode frequency of single ions as well as large ion crystals with a frequency precision better than 2x10-3 within an interrogation time on the order of seconds. This method has been used to measure the mass of ions and observe charge exchange collisions between trapped calcium isotopes. In particular, we have measured the 44Ca++40Ca!40Ca++44Ca reaction cross section and demonstrated the single-event resolution of the technique. Finally, we have developed a novel all-optical broadband scheme for exciting, amplifying and measuring the secular motion of ions in the trap. Oscillation induced by optical excitation has been coherently amplified to control and measure the ion's secular motion. Requiring only a single interrogation laser, the ion's oscillation amplitude can be precisely controlled. The application of this technique to non-destructive spectroscopy of trapped molecular ions is discussed.
Highly excited eigenstates of the motion of an individual spatially confined atom may be prepared making use of a “trapping” mechanism based on the nonlinearity of the laser-mediated coupling of internal excitation and center-of-mass vibration of the atom. In contrast to micromaser-type trapping states, these states are insensitive to laser-phase fluctuations, and a long sequence of laser pulses may be applied to the atom with little degradation only of the atomic motion. Thus, vibrational number states of high quantum numbers are achievable.