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arXiv:1503.07031 · Physical Review A

Ion-trajectory analysis for micromotion minimization and the measurement of small forces

Timm F. Gloger, Peter Kaufmann, Delia Kaufmann, M. Tanveer Baig, Thomas Collath, M. Johanning, Christof Wunderlich

Published Oct 27, 2015• 39 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

For experiments with ions confined in a Paul trap, minimization of micromotion is often essential. In order to diagnose and compensate micromotion we have implemented a method that allows for finding the position of the radio-frequency (rf) null reliably and efficiently, in principle, without any variation of direct current (dc) voltages. We apply a trap modulation technique and focus-scanning imaging to extract three-dimensional ion positions for various rf drive powers and analyze the power dependence of the equilibrium position of the trapped ion. In contrast to commonly used methods, the search algorithm directly makes use of a physical effect as opposed to efficient numerical minimization in a high-dimensional parameter space. Using this method we achieve a compensation of the residual electric field that causes excess micromotion in the radial plane of a linear Paul trap down to $0.09\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\text{V}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\text{m}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. Additionally, the precise position determination of a single harmonically trapped ion employed here can also be utilized for the detection of small forces. This is demonstrated by determining light pressure forces with a precision of 135 yN. As the method is based on imaging only, it can be applied to several ions simultaneously and is independent of laser direction and thus well suited to be used with, for example, surface-electrode traps.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.92.043421

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Annual Methodological Archive Research Review•Jan 30, 2026•0 citations
For experiments with ions confined in a Paul trap, minimization of micromotion is often essential. In order to diagnose and compensate micromotion we have implemented a method that allows for finding the position of the radio-frequency (rf) null reliably and efficiently, in principle, without any variation of direct current (dc) voltages. We apply a trap modulation technique and focus-scanning imaging to extract three-dimensional ion positions for various rf drive powers and analyze the power dependence of the equilibrium position of the trapped ion. In contrast to commonly used methods, the search algorithm directly makes use of a physical effect as opposed to efficient numerical minimization in a high-dimensional parameter space. Using this method we achieve a compensation of the residual electric field that causes excess micromotion in the radial plane of a linear Paul trap down to 0.09Vm\ensuremath−10.09\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\text{V}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\text{m}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}0.09Vm\ensuremath−1. Additionally, the precise position determination of a single harmonically trapped ion employed here can also be utilized for the detection of small forces. This is demonstrated by determining light pressure forces with a precision of 135 yN. As the method is based on imaging only, it can be applied to several ions simultaneously and is independent of laser direction and thus well suited to be used with, for example, surface-electrode traps.
We demonstrate a method of micromotion minimization of a trapped ion in a linear Paul trap based on the precision measurement of the ion trapping position displacement due to a stray electric field in the radial plane by ion fluorescence imaging. The amount of displacement in the radial plane is proportional to the strength of a stray electric field. Therefore, we evaluated the micromotion compensation condition by measuring the ion displacements from the ion equilibrium position using two different radial trap frequencies with various combinations of the compensation voltage. The residual electric field uncertainty of this technique reached a few volts per meter. This compensation technique does not depend on the orientation of the incident cooling laser or the detuning and imaging direction. Therefore, this method is suitable for a planar ion trap, a stylus ion trap, which limits the propagation angle of lasers, or miniaturized ion trap systems for sensing and metrological applications.
Precise control of charged particles in radio-frequency (Paul) traps requires minimising excess micromotion induced by stray electric fields. We present a method to detect and compensate such fields through amplitude modulation of the radio-frequency trapping field. Modulation at frequencies close to the motional modes of the trapped particle excites coherent motion whose amplitude linearly depends on the stray field. In trapped-ion experiments, this motion can be detected by recording the arrival times of photons scattered during laser cooling. Only a single laser beam is required to resolve fields in multiple directions. In a demonstration using a 88Sr+^{88}\mathrm{Sr}^{+}88Sr+ ion in a surface electrode trap, we achieve a sensitivity of 0.1 V m−1 / Hz0.1\, \mathrm{V}\, \mathrm{m}^{-1}\, /\, \sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}0.1Vm−1/Hz​ and a minimal uncertainty of 0.015 V m−10.015\, \mathrm{V}\, \mathrm{m}^{-1}0.015Vm−1.
Excess "micromotion" of trapped ions due to the residual radio-frequency (rf) trapping field at their location is often undesirable and is usually carefully minimized. Here, we induce precise amounts of excess micromotion on individual ions by adjusting the local static electric field they experience. Micromotion modulates the coupling of an ion to laser fields, ideally tuning it from its maximum value to zero as the ion is moved away from the trap's rf null. We use tunable micromotion to vary the Rabi frequency of stimulated Raman transitions over two orders of magnitude, and to individually control the rates of resonant fluorescence from three ions under global laser illumination without any changes to the driving light fields. The technique is amenable to situations where addressing individual ions with focused laser beams is challenging, such as tightly packed linear ion strings or two-dimensional ion arrays illuminated from the side.
In this paper, direct observation of micromotion for multiple ions in a laser-cooled trapped ion crystal is discussed along with a measurement technique for micromotion amplitude. Micromotion is directly observed using a time-resolving, single-photon-sensitive camera that provides both fluorescence and position data for each ion on the nanosecond time scale. Micromotion amplitude and phase for each ion in the crystal are measured, allowing this method to be sensitive to tilts and shifts of the ion chain from the null of the radio-frequency quadrupole potential in the linear trap. Spatial resolution makes this micromotion detection technique suitable for complex ion configurations, including two-dimensional geometries. It does not require any additional equipment or laser beams, and the modulation of the cooling lasers or trap voltages is not necessary for detection as it is in other methods.
Minimizing the micromotion of a trapped ion in a linear Paul trap is of great importance in maintaining long coherence time as well as implementing quantum logic gates with high fidelity, which is crucial for large-scale quantum computation with trapped ions. Here, by applying the RF (radio frequency)-photon correlation technique, we demonstrate that a machine learning method based on artificial neural networks can quickly search for optimal voltage settings of the electrodes to minimize the trapped ion's micromotion. This machine learning assisted RF-photon correlation technique can be straightforwardly applied to more complicated surface ion traps with many electrodes, where the manual minimization of the excess micromotion generated by stray electric fields would become extremely challenging for the larger number of electrodes with various voltage settings. Instead, the presented machine learning assisted method provides an effective and automatic way to address this need.
Ion traps are a foundational technology in quantum information processing, precision spectroscopy and foundational physics tests. At the heart of their performance is the inhibition of micromotion, an oscillation of ions through imperfect trapping potentials, that restricts the laser cooling efficiency, coherence times, and the accuracy of measurements. The paper provides a systematic computational analysis of four different electrode geometries (Linear Paul, Segmented, Surface and Ring) in 24 different RF / DC configurations (C01-C24) and 13 performance parameters that comprise trap depth (0.62 1.48 eV), radial secular frequency (1,100 1 Multi-objective optimization with weighted scoring of these metrics indicates that Ring trap geometry scores the highest total (80.2/100), followed by Linear Paul (72.0), Segmented (67.0) and Surface (55.1) configurations. ANOVA (one-way) statistically verified the presence of statistically significant inter-geometry differences in micro-motions amplitude (F = 18.43, p < .001) and cooling efficiency (F = 22.17, p < .001), with Tukey HSD post-hoc revealed that the most significant difference was between the Ring and the Surface. The Pearson correlation analysis shows that RF drive voltage and micromotion amplitude (r = -0.94 to -0.99) and cooling efficiency and micromotion (r = -1.00) have near-perfect inverse correlations, which prove that the quality of confinement is regulated by electrode geometry, RF amplitude, and spacing. These results give quantitative design principles of next-generation ion traps in quantum computing and atomic clock. Keywords: ion trap, micromotion minimization, RF/DC electrode optimization, laser cooling, Mathieu stability, secular frequency, quantum computing