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arXiv:2504.15368 · AIP Advances

Design and implementation of a blade-type linear Paul trap

Lautaro Ezequiel Filgueira, Marcelo Alejandro Luda, Christian Tomás Schmiegelow

Published Oct 1, 2025• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In this work, we present the design, construction, and characterization of a linear Paul trap in a blade configuration. The trap was optimized to minimize micromotion and enable the formation of linear ion chains comprising tens of ions. We discuss the design requirements for low axial micromotion and reduced capacitance and describe the simulation and optimization of the trap design parameters. The assembled trap is characterized through direct measurements of the axial and radial confinement frequencies using the tickling method. We identify deviations from the target design due to manufacturing tolerances and present a compensation procedure to calibrate and correct for these effects.

DOI
10.1063/5.0301092

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In this work, we present the design, construction, and characterization of a linear Paul trap in a blade configuration. The trap was optimized to minimize micromotion and enable the formation of linear ion chains comprising tens of ions. We discuss the design requirements for low axial micromotion and reduced capacitance and describe the simulation and optimization of the trap design parameters. The assembled trap is characterized through direct measurements of the axial and radial confinement frequencies using the tickling method. We identify deviations from the target design due to manufacturing tolerances and present a compensation procedure to calibrate and correct for these effects.
We have fabricated a miniature three-segment linear Paul trap with r 0=0.6 mm and 2Z 0=4 mm. In order to perform quantum-state manipulation of trapped 40 Ca+ ions, we discuss the required harmonic oscillation frequencies which allow us to perform effective sideband cooling and have measured those that depend on the dimensions of the trap. A laser beam that has a component in the radial direction of the linear trap as well as that propagating along the trap axis has been used to detect the fluorescence spectra of the 42 S 1/2–42 P 1/2 transition. We have observed that the profile of the fluorescence spectrum obtained with the side laser beam is markedly different from that obtained with the axial laser beam due to micromotion. By applying additional DC voltages, the micromotion has been compensated, its amplitude has been estimated, and crystallization has been observed for two 40 Ca+ and four 40 Ca+ ions.
We have designed and built a new linear Paul trap to expand our capability for carrying out high-fidelity quantum logic. We have identified some key limitations of our existing trap: the presence of a magnetic field gradient of 0.6 milligauss per micrometre, which limits the fidelity of Bell state preparation; a high axial micromotion amplitude, which limits the fidelity of operations on linear ion crystals; and a small numerical aperture in the imaging system, which restricts the collection efficiency and thus the performance of remote entanglement experiments. We have carried out theoretical investigations into axial ion micromotion, including a full analysis of ion motion, using numerical simulations to understand the impact of electrode geometry. We have considered the effect of ion micromotion on the excitation spectrum, and how the micromotion sidebands can be used to selectively address ions within a linear crystal. Based on this work, electrode design parameters have been selected for the new trap to prioritise sideband addressing while maintaining the most useful properties of the existing design. We have redesigned the mechanical structure of the trap, carefully considering manufacturing limitations, to minimise the magnetic field gradient, increase the numerical aperture to 0.6 and accurately align the electrodes. Additionally, we have considered methods of characterising the trap performance to assess how well the design criteria have been met.
In this paper, the schematics of a linear Paul trap, designed using Solid works are presented. A careful procedure followed during electrode alignment, under the microscope, is discussed in detail. The assembled linear Paul trap is then characterized using a collimated 369 nm laser beam and the results are presented, analyzed, and discussed. The trap geometric parameters found in this work help guide the trap compensation with static potentials and characterization ofthe stability diagram of the ion trap.
RF quadrupole linear Paul traps are versatile tools in quantum physics experiments. Linear Paul traps with blade-shaped electrodes have the advantages of larger solid angles for fluorescence collection. But with these kinds of traps, the existence of higher-order anharmonic terms of the trap potentials can cause large heating rate for the trapped ions. In this paper, we theoretically investigate the dependence of higher-order terms of trap potentials on the geometry of blade-shaped traps, and offer an optimized design. A modified blade electrodes trap is proposed to further reduce higher-order anharmonic terms while still retaining large fluorescence collection angle.
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.
We present the design, fabrication, and characterization of a monolithic, segmented, three-dimensional linear Paul ion trap for quantum science applications. The trap is fabricated from a single fused-silica block using selective laser-induced etching (SLE) and is subsequently metallized, forming electrodes isolated by self-shadowing trench structures without the need for layer alignment or external shadow masks. The segmented electrodes allow for shaping of the axial potential, enabling the creation of anharmonic potential wells, such as those required for equidistant ion strings. In addition, they enable shuttling and splitting of ion chains. We discuss key design choices and SLE-imposed constraints on achievable feature sizes, and evaluate electron-beam evaporation and magnetron sputtering as metallization approaches. Across two independent experimental setups, we demonstrate stable trapping and control of linear chains of up to 33 40^{40}40Ca+^++ ions, including approximately equally spaced configurations. The measured secular frequencies in both traps agree with boundary-element simulations at the percent level, with residual deviations attributed to stray electric fields in the presence of anharmonic axial potentials, rather than fabrication imperfections. We measure axial micromotion field strengths on the order of 100 V/m along the trap axis, in approximate agreement with simulations. For radial mode frequencies near 2 MHz and an ion-electrode distance of 300 um, we measure heating rates of the order of 10 quanta/s in all but one motional mode, which is elevated by a technical noise source. The presented trap design is thus suitable for a wide range of quantum science applications and demonstrates the viability of SLE for the fabrication of finely segmented, monolithic, three-dimensional ion traps.