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arXiv:1808.07816 · Physical Review A

Far-from-equilibrium noise-heating and laser-cooling dynamics in radio-frequency Paul traps

Ananyo Maitra, Dietrich G. Leibfried, Denis Ullmo, Haggai Landa

Published Apr 23, 2019• 9 citations

Abstract

We study the stochastic dynamics of a particle in a periodically driven potential. For atomic ions trapped in radio-frequency Paul traps, noise heating and laser cooling typically act slowly in comparison with the unperturbed motion. These stochastic processes can be accounted for in terms of a probability distribution defined over the action variables, which would otherwise be conserved within the regular regions of the Hamiltonian phase space. We present a semiclassical theory of low-saturation laser cooling applicable from the limit of low-amplitude motion to large-amplitude motion, accounting fully for the time-dependent and anharmonic trap. We employ our approach to a detailed study of the stochastic dynamics of a single ion, drawing general conclusions regarding the nonequilibrium dynamics of laser-cooled trapped ions. We predict a regime of anharmonic motion in which laser cooling becomes diffusive (i.e., it is equally likely to cool the ion as it is to heat it), and can also turn into effective heating. This implies that a high-energy ion could be easily lost from the trap despite being laser cooled; however, we find that this loss can be counteracted using a laser detuning much larger than Doppler detuning.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.99.043421

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We study the probability distribution of an atomic ion being laser cooled in a periodically driven Paul trap using a Floquet approach to the semiclassical photon scattering dynamics. We show that despite the microscopic nonequilibrium forces, a stationary thermal-like exponential distribution can be obtained in the Hamiltonian action, or equivalently in the number of quanta (phonons) of the motion linearized about the zero of the potential. At the presence of additional stray electric fields, the ion is pushed from the origin of the potential and set into a large-amplitude driven oscillation, and above a threshold amplitude of such ``excess micromotion,'' the action distribution of excitations about the driven oscillation broadens and becomes distinctly nonthermal. We find that by a proper choice of the laser detuning, the distribution can be made exponential again, with a mean phonon number close to that of the Doppler cooling limit. We derive a relation allowing to deduce just from the experimentally observable photon scattering rate both the required detuning for optimal cooling and the final mean phonon number. These results are important for quantum information processing and other applications, and in particular the derived approach can be applied to crystals of trapped ions in planar configurations, where the driven motion of ions is unavoidable.

We have investigated motional heating of laser-cooled

{}^{9}{\mathrm{Be}}^{+}

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 that 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 noise source on the electrodes (such as fluctuating patch-potential fields) is a more likely candidate for the source of heating.

We report on ground-state laser cooling of single

^{111}\mathrm{Cd}^{+}

ions confined in radio-frequency (Paul) traps. Heating rates of trapped ion motion are measured for two different trapping geometries and electrode materials, where no effort was made to shield the electrodes from the atomic

\mathrm{Cd}

source. The low measured heating rates suggest that trapped

^{111}\mathrm{Cd}^{+}

ions may be well suited for experiments involving quantum control of atomic motion, including applications in quantum information science.

We investigate the energy dynamics of noncrystallized (melted) ions, confined in a Paul trap. The nonperiodic Coulomb interaction experienced by melted ions forms a medium for nonconservative energy transfer from the radio-frequency (rf) field to the ions, a process known as rf heating. We study rf heating by analyzing numerical simulations of noncrystallized ion motion in Paul trap potentials, in which the energy of the ions' secular motion changes at discrete intervals, corresponding to ion-ion collisions. The analysis of these collisions is used as a basis to derive a simplified model of rf heating energy dynamics, from which we conclude that the rf heating rate is predominantly dependent on the rf field strength. We confirm the predictability of the model experimentally: Two trapped

^{40}\mathrm{Ca}^{+}

ions are deterministically driven to melt, and their fluorescence rate is used to infer the ions' energy. Under these experimental conditions, we investigate which Doppler cooling parameters are required for efficient recrystallization, and compare our results to simulations.