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arXiv:1106.2771 · New Journal of Physics

Weighing of trapped ion crystals and its applications

Kevin Sheridan, Matthias Keller

Published Dec 1, 2011• 18 citations
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Abstract

We have developed a novel scheme to measure the secular motion of trapped ions. Employing pulsed excitation and analysis of the fluorescence of laser-cooled ions, we have measured the centre-of-mass mode frequency of single as well as entire ion crystals with a frequency precision better than 5 × 10 −4 within an interrogation time on the order of seconds, limited only by the fluorescence collection efficiency and the background noise. We have used this method to measure the mass of ions and observed charge exchange collisions between trapped calcium isotopes.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/13/12/123002

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We have developed a novel scheme to measure the secular motion of trapped ions. Employing pulsed excitation and analysis of the fluorescence of laser-cooled ions, we have measured the centre-of-mass mode frequency of single as well as entire ion crystals with a frequency precision better than 5 × 10 −4 within an interrogation time on the order of seconds, limited only by the fluorescence collection efficiency and the background noise. We have used this method to measure the mass of ions and observed charge exchange collisions between trapped calcium isotopes.
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.
Single-ion mass identification is important for atomic and nuclear physics experiments on ions produced with low yields. Cooling the ion to ultralow temperatures through interaction with a laser-cooled ion will enhance the precision of the measurements. In this paper we present axial-common-mode frequency measurements of balanced and unbalanced Coulomb crystals from the Fourier transform of the fluorescence photons from a Doppler-cooling transition in calcium ions after probing the ion crystal with a five-radio-frequency comb. A single ion nondestructively detected can be used for identification, yielding a mass-resolving power m / Δ m FWHM ≈ 310 from the axial common mode. This identification can be performed from a single measurement within times below 1 s. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
For a single trapped ion, second-order time correlations of fluorescence photons are measured in a self-homodyne configuration by beating the fluorescence with itself. At the nanosecond timescale, the correlations are governed by electronic excitation and decay of the ion and anti-bunching in the resonance fluorescence is observed and quantitatively reproduced. On the other hand, at the microsecond timescale the motion of the ion determines the correlations: secular motional modes, their amplitude and relative coherence are measured. Besides precisely monitoring the trap frequencies, our observations also quantify the temporal stability of the trapping potential.
In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a new method for measuring the trap frequency from the fluorescence dynamics of an ion, initiated using fast trap-center displacement. Here, we observe the coherently excited motion of an ion in a harmonic trap using time-resolved fluorescence detection. Furthermore, Fourier analysis of the ion fluorescence signal was used to determine the trap frequency of an ion with high precision and reproducibility. The results show that our proposed method can be an alternative way to determine trap frequencies in an ion trap experiment.
In this paper we consider two problems in diagnostics of trapped ion crystals in which an analysis of the ions' collective oscillatory motion yield potentially useful results. When one of the ions in a linear crystal undergoes a collision, observation of the subsequent motion allows one to deduce the identity of which ion sustained the collision. When a linear ion crystal is formed with a dark impurity ion, analysis of the ions' motion can identify the mass (and thus give an important clue to the species) of the impurity.
In this paper we consider two problems in diagnostics of trapped ion crystals in which an analysis of the ions' collective oscillatory motion yield potentially useful results. When one of the ions in a linear crystal undergoes a collision, observation of the subsequent motion allows one to deduce the identity of which ion sustained the collision. When a linear ion crystal is formed with a dark impurity ion, analysis of the ions' motion can identify the mass (and thus give an important clue to the species) of the impurity.