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arXiv:2508.16407 · Physical Review A

Trapping of electrons and Ca 40 + ions in a dual-frequency Paul trap

Vladimir Mikhailovskii, Natalija Sheth, Guofeng Qu, Michal Hejduk, Niklas Vilhelm Lausti, K T Satyajith, C. Smorra, Günther Werth, Neha Yadav, Qian Yu, Clemens Matthiesen, Hartmut Häffner, Ferdinand Schmidt‐Kaler, Hendrik Bekker, Dmitry Budker

Published Jan 30, 2026• 3 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We demonstrate the operation of a dual-frequency Paul trap and characterize its performance by storing either electrons or calcium ions while applying two quadrupole fields simultaneously which oscillate at $Ω_\textrm{fast} = 2π\times 1.6$ GHz and $Ω_\textrm{slow} = 2π\times 2$ MHz. The particles are loaded and stored in the trap under various conditions followed by detection employing an electron multiplier tube. We find that tens of electrons or ions can be trapped for up to ten milliseconds and a small fraction remains trapped even after hundreds of milliseconds. During dual-frequency operation we find that while the number of trapped electrons rapidly decreases with increase of the $Ω_\textrm{slow}$ field amplitude, the number of trapped ions shows no dependence on the $Ω_\textrm{fast}$ field amplitude as supported by our extensive numerical simulations. We aim to use a similar trap for synthesising antihydrogen from antiprotons and positrons. Accordingly, we discuss open challenges such as the co-trapping of oppositely charged species and particle trap duration.

DOI
10.1103/q5kr-5dp7

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We demonstrate the operation of a dual-frequency Paul trap and characterize its performance by storing either electrons or calcium ions while applying two quadrupole fields simultaneously which oscillate at Ωfast=2π×1.6Ω_\textrm{fast} = 2π\times 1.6Ωfast​=2π×1.6 GHz and Ωslow=2π×2Ω_\textrm{slow} = 2π\times 2Ωslow​=2π×2 MHz. The particles are loaded and stored in the trap under various conditions followed by detection employing an electron multiplier tube. We find that tens of electrons or ions can be trapped for up to ten milliseconds and a small fraction remains trapped even after hundreds of milliseconds. During dual-frequency operation we find that while the number of trapped electrons rapidly decreases with increase of the ΩslowΩ_\textrm{slow}Ωslow​ field amplitude, the number of trapped ions shows no dependence on the ΩfastΩ_\textrm{fast}Ωfast​ field amplitude as supported by our extensive numerical simulations. We aim to use a similar trap for synthesising antihydrogen from antiprotons and positrons. Accordingly, we discuss open challenges such as the co-trapping of oppositely charged species and particle trap duration.
We demonstrate trapping of electrons in a millimeter-sized quadrupole Paul trap driven at 1.6 GHz in a room-temperature ultra-high vacuum setup. Cold electrons are introduced into the trap by ionization of atomic calcium via Rydberg states and stay confined by microwave and static electric fields for several tens of milliseconds. A fraction of these electrons remains trapped longer and shows no measurable loss for measurement times up to a second. Electronic excitation of the motion reveals secular frequencies from several tens to hundreds of MHz. Operating a similar electron Paul trap in a cryogenic environment may provide a platform for all-electric quantum computing with trapped electron spin qubits.
We demonstrate trapping of electrons in a millimeter-sized quadrupole Paul trap driven at 1.6 GHz in a room-temperature ultrahigh vacuum setup.Cold electrons are introduced into the trap by ionization of atomic calcium via Rydberg states and stay confined by microwave and static electric fields for several tens of milliseconds.A fraction of these electrons remain trapped longer and show no measurable loss for measurement times up to a second.Electronic excitation of the motion reveals secular frequencies that can be tuned over a range of several tens to hundreds of MHz.Operating a similar electron Paul trap in a cryogenic environment may provide a platform for all-electric quantum computing with trapped electron spin qubits.
We present a theoretical study of trapping an electron in a two-frequency Paul trap, motivated by future hybrid architecture consisting of a doubly charged calcium ion (Ca2+^{2+}2+) and an electron. By isolating the electron from ionic-electron interactions, we formulate the equations of motion for the electron in the time-dependent trap potentials and cast them in the Hill form. Stability and dynamics are then analysed in terms of the dimensionless q-parameters, which encode the applied voltages, drive frequencies, trap geometry, and the particle's charge-to-mass ratio. Under the combined action of the two radio-frequency fields, the trapped electron's classical motion is shown to be approximated well by a slow secular oscillation modulated by two distinct motion sidebands originating from the low- and high-frequency RF drives. The approximation method presented here enables a quick evaluation of the relation between the device-design q-parameters and the electron motion. It offers a crucial foundation for developing physical models of electron-ion interactions in electron-ion traps.
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Radio-frequency (rf) Paul traps operated with multifrequency rf trapping potentials provide the ability to independently confine charged particle species with widely different charge-to-mass ratios. In particular, these traps may find use in the field of antihydrogen recombination, allowing antiproton and positron clouds to be trapped and confined in the same volume without the use of large superconducting magnets. We explore the stability regions of two-frequency Paul traps and perform numerical simulations of small samples of multispecies charged-particle mixtures of up to twelve particles that indicate the promise of these traps for antihydrogen recombination.
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