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arXiv:1703.09463 · Molecular Physics

Quantum stability of an ion in a Paul trap revisited

A. Hashemloo, Claude M. Dion

Published Apr 10, 2017• 0 citations
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Abstract

We study the quantum stability of the dynamics of ions in a Paul trap. We revisit previous results that showed that quantum trajectories did not have the same region of stability as their classical counterpart, contrary to what is obtained from a Floquet analysis of the motion in the periodic trapping field. Using numerical simulations of the full wave-packet dynamics, we confirm that the classical trapping criterion is fully applicable to quantum motion, when considering both the expectation value of the position of the wave packet and its width.

DOI
10.1080/00268976.2017.1313464

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We study the quantum stability of the dynamics of ions in a Paul trap. We revisit previous results that showed that quantum trajectories did not have the same region of stability as their classical counterpart, contrary to what is obtained from a Floquet analysis of the motion in the periodic trapping field. Using numerical simulations of the full wave-packet dynamics, we confirm that the classical trapping criterion is fully applicable to quantum motion, when considering both the expectation value of the position of the wave packet and its width.
Using numerical simulations of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, we study the full quantum dynamics of the motion of an atomic ion in a linear Paul trap. Such a trap is based on a time-varying, periodic electric field and hence corresponds to a time-dependent potential for the ion, which we model exactly. We compare the center-of-mass motion with that obtained from classical equations of motion, as well as to results based on a time-independent effective potential. We also study the oscillations of the width of the ion’s wave packet, including close to the border between stable (bounded) and unstable (unbounded) trajectories. Our results confirm that the center-of-mass motion always follows the classical trajectory, that the width of the wave packet is bounded for trapping within the stability region, and therefore that the classical trapping criterion is fully applicable to quantum motion.
Motivated by recent developments in ion trap design and fabrication, we investigate the stability of the motion of an ion in asymmetrical, planar versions of the linear Paul trap. The equations of motion of an ion in such a trap are generally coupled due to a nonzero relative angle θ between the principal axes of RF and DC fields, invalidating the assumptions behind the standard stability analysis for symmetric Paul traps. Using numerical methods, we obtain stability diagrams for the coupled system for various values of θ, generalizing the standard q-a stability diagrams. We then use multi-scale perturbation theory to obtain approximate formulas for the boundaries of the primary stability region and check our formulas against results from numerical analysis. Our results show that while the primary stability region is quite robust to changes in θ, a secondary stability region is highly variable, joining the primary stability region at the special case of θ=45°, which results in a significantly enlarged stability region for this particular angle. We conclude that while the standard stability diagrams for classical, symmetric Paul traps are not entirely accurate for asymmetric surface traps (or for other types of traps with a relative angle between the RF and DC axes), they are “safe” in the sense that operating conditions deemed stable according to standard stability plots are in fact stable for asymmetric traps, as well. By ignoring the coupling in the equations, one only underestimates the size of the primary stability region.
This work is devoted to the investigation of possibility of controlling of ions motion inside Paul trap. It has been shown that by proper selection of the parameters of controlling electric fields, stable localization of ions inside Paul trap is possible. Quantum consideration of this problem is reduced to the investigation of the Mathieu-Schrodinger equation. It has been shown that quantum consideration is appreciably different from classical one that leads to stronger limitations of the values of the parameters of stable motion. Connection between the problem under study and the possibility of experimental observation of quantum chaos has been shown.
We have studied the quantum and classical motions of a single Paul trapped ion interacting with a time-periodic laser field. By using the test-function method, we construct n exact solutions of quantum dynamics that describe the generalized squeezed coherent states with the expectation orbits being the corresponding classical ones. The space-time evolutions of the exact probability densities show some wavepacket trains. It is demonstrated analytically that by adjusting the laser intensity and frequency, we can control the center motions of the wavepacket trains. We also discuss the other physical properties such as the expectation value of energy, the widths and heights of the wavepackets, and the resonance loss of stability.