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Physical Review A

Optical sideband spectroscopy of a single ion in a Penning trap

Sandeep Mavadia, G. Stutter, Joseph F. Goodwin, D. R. Crick, Richard Claude Thompson, D. M. Segal

Published Mar 6, 2014• 29 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We perform resolved optical sideband spectroscopy on a single 40Ca+ ion in a Penning trap. We probe the electric quadrupole allowed S1/2↔D5/2 transition at 729 nm and observe equally spaced sidebands for the three motional modes. The axial mode, parallel to the trap axis, is a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator, whereas the radial cyclotron and magnetron modes are circular motions perpendicular to the magnetic field. The total energy associated with the magnetron motion is negative, but here we probe only the (positive) kinetic energy. From the equivalent Doppler widths of the sideband spectra corresponding to the three motions we find effective temperatures of 1.1±0.2 mK, 7±3 mK, and 42±8 μK for the axial, modified cyclotron, and magnetron modes, respectively. These should be compared to the cooling limits, estimated using optimal laser parameters, of 0.38 mK, 0.8 mK, and ∼10 μK. In future work we aim to perform resolved-sideband cooling of the ion on the 729-nm transition.Received 3 December 2013DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.89.032502©2014 American Physical Society

DOI
10.1103/physreva.89.032502

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Motional sideband spectra and Coulomb crystals in a Penning trap

Sandeep Mavadia

Laser cooled ions in a Penning trap can be isolated from the environment by placing them in vacuum and only interacting with them through optical and RF fields. The number of trapped particles can be varied from a single ion up to thousands. Confinement is provided by a static homogeneous magnetic field and a quadrupole electric potential. In the natural frame of the ions, this appears as a 3D simple harmonic potential. Therefore three dimensional structures can be formed in the absence of any additional RF field which may lead to heating as is the case with RF traps. There are 3N different motional modes for N particles. I present an analysis of the motion of a single particle showing that the energy levels for all three modes are equally spaced. I also describe the interaction between a trapped two level atom and an optical field. During my time in the lab the laser and computer control of the experiment has been significantly improved. In addition, an existing trap was modified to provide greater optical access and fluorescence collection. This allowed the vibrational levels superimposed on the internal states of a single 40Ca+ ion to be resolved via a narrow linewidth, electric quadrupole transition. This is the first observation of magnetron and modified cyclotron sidebands on an optical transition. When more than one calcium ion is laser cooled, and their temperature reduced below 5mK, they form a Coulomb crystal. The locations of the ions minimise the total potential energy which is comprised of the Coulomb repulsion and trap potential. The fluorescence collection optics have been arranged to resolve individual ions in these crystals. Information about the motion of the ions is deduced by comparing photos from the experiment to numerical simulations. Previously, only two ions have ever been aligned along the magnetic field in a Penning trap. I present strings of up to 29 particles and suggest the only limitation, apart from the electrode structure, is the overlap of the laser beams with the ions.

•Feb 1, 2013•1 citation

Sideband cooling of small ion Coulomb crystals in a Penning trap

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We have recently demonstrated the laser cooling of a single 40Ca+ ion to the motional ground state in a Penning trap using the resolved-sideband cooling technique on the electric quadrupole transition S12↔ D52. Here we report on the extension of this technique to small ion Coulomb crystals made of two or three 40Ca+ ions. Efficient cooling of the axial motion is achieved outside the Lamb-Dicke regime on a two-ion string along the magnetic field axis as well as on two- and three-ion planar crystals. Complex sideband cooling sequences are required in order to cool both axial degrees of freedom simultaneously. We measure a mean excitation after cooling of n¯COM=0.30(4) for the centre of mass (COM) mode and n¯B=0.07(3) for the breathing mode of the two-ion string with corresponding heating rates of 11(2) s-1 and 1(1)s-1 at a trap frequency of 162 kHz. The occupation of the ground state of the axial modes (ntilt=nCOM=0) is above 75% for the two-ion planar crystal and the associated heating rates 0.8(5) s-1 at a trap frequency of 355 kHz.

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Sideband cooling of the radial modes of motion of a single ion in a Penning trap

Pavel Hrmo, Manoj K. Joshi, Vincent Jarlaud +2 more

Doppler and sideband cooling are long-standing techniques that have been used together to prepare trapped atomic ions in their ground state of motion. In this paper we study how these techniques can be extended to cool both radial modes of motion of a single ion in a Penning trap. We numerically explore the prerequisite experimental parameters for efficient Doppler cooling in the presence of an additional oscillating electric field to resonantly couple the radial modes. The simulations are supported by experimental data for a single $^{40}\mathrm{Ca}^{+}$ ion Doppler cooled to $\ensuremath{\sim}100$ phonons in both radial modes at a magnetron frequency of 52 kHz and a modified cyclotron frequency of 677 kHz. For these frequencies, we then show that mean phonon numbers of 0.35(5) for the modified cyclotron and 1.7(2) for the magnetron motions are achieved after 68 ms of sideband cooling.

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We report the laser cooling of a single $^{40}\text{Ca}^+$ ion in a Penning trap to the motional ground state in one dimension. Cooling is performed in the strong binding limit on the 729-nm electric quadrupole $S_{1/2}\leftrightarrow D_{5/2}$ transition, broadened by a quench laser coupling the $D_{5/2}$ and $P_{3/2}$ levels. We find the final phonon number to be $\bar{n}=0.014\pm0.009$. We measure the heating rate of the trap to be very low with $\dot{\bar{n}}=2.5\pm 0.3\textrm{s}^{-1}$ and a scaled spectral noise density of $\omega S_{E}(\omega)\sim1.6^{-8}\textrm{V}^2\textrm{m}^{-2}\textrm{Hz}^{-1}\textrm{s}^{-1}$, which is consistent with the large ion-electrode distance. We perform Rabi oscillations on the sideband-cooled ion and observe a coherence time of $0.7\pm 0.1\textrm{ms}$, noting that the practical performance is currently limited by the intensity noise of the probe laser.

•Jul 23, 2014•0 citations

Resolved-Sideband Laser Cooling in a Penning Trap

Joseph F. Goodwin, G. Stutter, Richard Claude Thompson +1 more

We report the laser cooling of a single ${^{40}\mathrm{Ca}}^{+}$ ion in a Penning trap to the motional ground state in one dimension. Cooling is performed in the strong binding limit on the 729-nm electric quadrupole ${S}_{1/2}\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}{D}_{5/2}$ transition, broadened by a quench laser coupling the ${D}_{5/2}$ and ${P}_{3/2}$ levels. We find the final ground-state occupation to be 98(1)%. We measure the heating rate of the trap to be very low with $\stackrel{\ifmmode \dot{}\else \textperiodcentered \fi{}}{\overline{n}}\ensuremath{\approx}0.3(2)\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ for trap frequencies from 150--400 kHz, consistent with the large ion-electrode distance.

arXiv:1407.6121•Physical Review Letters•Apr 6, 2016•68 citations

Towards Sideband Cooling of a Single 40Ca+ Ion in a Penning Trap

S. Donnellan

This thesis presents work aimed towards achieving sideband cooling of 40Ca+ ions in a Penning trap. The observation of an increase in the number of quantum jumps as a function of the trapping magnetic field is first presented. This observation is explained by the ion falling into a long-lived D5/2 state, out of which the ion is not being re-pumped. The ion can fall into this state due to mixing of the fine structure components with the same mJ quantum number induced by the applied magnetic field. A calculation of the mixing and shelving rate as a function of magnetic field strength is presented. This theory matches well with the experimental results observed. This work has been presented in a publication in which a perturbative analysis was used. An alternative analysis is presented here in which the full Hamiltonian is diagonalised. The essential conclusions however remain unchanged. This ‘J-state mixing’ effect means re-pumping from each of the six D5/2 state sub-levels of our ion is required for efficient laser cooling. This is achieved by the addition of a system comprising an 854 nm laser and a fibre EOM to provide the radiation required to re-pump these levels. The same EOM is then used to re-pump out of the four sub-levels of the D3/2 state using a single 866 nm laser. This is a great simplification of the experimental setup required to cool a 40Ca+ ion in a Penning trap which would otherwise require ten separate lasers to independently address each of the D sub-states. Achieving efficient repumping leads to the ability to perform pulsed spectroscopy on the quadrupole S1/2 → D5/2 transition in 40Ca+ . Preliminary results of this spectroscopy in a radio-frequency trap are presented.

•Nov 1, 2011•1 citation
We perform resolved optical sideband spectroscopy on a single 40Ca+ ion in a Penning trap. We probe the electric quadrupole allowed S1/2↔D5/2 transition at 729 nm and observe equally spaced sidebands for the three motional modes. The axial mode, parallel to the trap axis, is a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator, whereas the radial cyclotron and magnetron modes are circular motions perpendicular to the magnetic field. The total energy associated with the magnetron motion is negative, but here we probe only the (positive) kinetic energy. From the equivalent Doppler widths of the sideband spectra corresponding to the three motions we find effective temperatures of 1.1±0.2 mK, 7±3 mK, and 42±8 μK for the axial, modified cyclotron, and magnetron modes, respectively. These should be compared to the cooling limits, estimated using optimal laser parameters, of 0.38 mK, 0.8 mK, and ∼10 μK. In future work we aim to perform resolved-sideband cooling of the ion on the 729-nm transition.Received 3 December 2013DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.89.032502©2014 American Physical Society
Laser cooled ions in a Penning trap can be isolated from the environment by placing them in vacuum and only interacting with them through optical and RF fields. The number of trapped particles can be varied from a single ion up to thousands. Confinement is provided by a static homogeneous magnetic field and a quadrupole electric potential. In the natural frame of the ions, this appears as a 3D simple harmonic potential. Therefore three dimensional structures can be formed in the absence of any additional RF field which may lead to heating as is the case with RF traps. There are 3N different motional modes for N particles. I present an analysis of the motion of a single particle showing that the energy levels for all three modes are equally spaced. I also describe the interaction between a trapped two level atom and an optical field. During my time in the lab the laser and computer control of the experiment has been significantly improved. In addition, an existing trap was modified to provide greater optical access and fluorescence collection. This allowed the vibrational levels superimposed on the internal states of a single 40Ca+ ion to be resolved via a narrow linewidth, electric quadrupole transition. This is the first observation of magnetron and modified cyclotron sidebands on an optical transition. When more than one calcium ion is laser cooled, and their temperature reduced below 5mK, they form a Coulomb crystal. The locations of the ions minimise the total potential energy which is comprised of the Coulomb repulsion and trap potential. The fluorescence collection optics have been arranged to resolve individual ions in these crystals. Information about the motion of the ions is deduced by comparing photos from the experiment to numerical simulations. Previously, only two ions have ever been aligned along the magnetic field in a Penning trap. I present strings of up to 29 particles and suggest the only limitation, apart from the electrode structure, is the overlap of the laser beams with the ions.
We have recently demonstrated the laser cooling of a single 40Ca+ ion to the motional ground state in a Penning trap using the resolved-sideband cooling technique on the electric quadrupole transition S12↔ D52. Here we report on the extension of this technique to small ion Coulomb crystals made of two or three 40Ca+ ions. Efficient cooling of the axial motion is achieved outside the Lamb-Dicke regime on a two-ion string along the magnetic field axis as well as on two- and three-ion planar crystals. Complex sideband cooling sequences are required in order to cool both axial degrees of freedom simultaneously. We measure a mean excitation after cooling of n¯COM=0.30(4) for the centre of mass (COM) mode and n¯B=0.07(3) for the breathing mode of the two-ion string with corresponding heating rates of 11(2) s-1 and 1(1)s-1 at a trap frequency of 162 kHz. The occupation of the ground state of the axial modes (ntilt=nCOM=0) is above 75% for the two-ion planar crystal and the associated heating rates 0.8(5) s-1 at a trap frequency of 355 kHz.
Doppler and sideband cooling are long-standing techniques that have been used together to prepare trapped atomic ions in their ground state of motion. In this paper we study how these techniques can be extended to cool both radial modes of motion of a single ion in a Penning trap. We numerically explore the prerequisite experimental parameters for efficient Doppler cooling in the presence of an additional oscillating electric field to resonantly couple the radial modes. The simulations are supported by experimental data for a single 40Ca+^{40}\mathrm{Ca}^{+}40Ca+ ion Doppler cooled to $\ensuremath{\sim}100$ phonons in both radial modes at a magnetron frequency of 52 kHz and a modified cyclotron frequency of 677 kHz. For these frequencies, we then show that mean phonon numbers of 0.35(5) for the modified cyclotron and 1.7(2) for the magnetron motions are achieved after 68 ms of sideband cooling.
We report the laser cooling of a single 40Ca+^{40}\text{Ca}^+40Ca+ ion in a Penning trap to the motional ground state in one dimension. Cooling is performed in the strong binding limit on the 729-nm electric quadrupole S1/2↔D5/2S_{1/2}\leftrightarrow D_{5/2}S1/2​↔D5/2​ transition, broadened by a quench laser coupling the D5/2D_{5/2}D5/2​ and P3/2P_{3/2}P3/2​ levels. We find the final phonon number to be nˉ=0.014±0.009\bar{n}=0.014\pm0.009nˉ=0.014±0.009. We measure the heating rate of the trap to be very low with nˉ˙=2.5±0.3s−1\dot{\bar{n}}=2.5\pm 0.3\textrm{s}^{-1}nˉ˙=2.5±0.3s−1 and a scaled spectral noise density of ωSE(ω)∼1.6−8V2m−2Hz−1s−1\omega S_{E}(\omega)\sim1.6^{-8}\textrm{V}^2\textrm{m}^{-2}\textrm{Hz}^{-1}\textrm{s}^{-1}ωSE​(ω)∼1.6−8V2m−2Hz−1s−1, which is consistent with the large ion-electrode distance. We perform Rabi oscillations on the sideband-cooled ion and observe a coherence time of 0.7±0.1ms0.7\pm 0.1\textrm{ms}0.7±0.1ms, noting that the practical performance is currently limited by the intensity noise of the probe laser.
We report the laser cooling of a single 40Ca+{^{40}\mathrm{Ca}}^{+}40Ca+ ion in a Penning trap to the motional ground state in one dimension. Cooling is performed in the strong binding limit on the 729-nm electric quadrupole ${S}_{1/2}\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}{D}_{5/2}$ transition, broadened by a quench laser coupling the D5/2{D}_{5/2}D5/2​ and P3/2{P}_{3/2}P3/2​ levels. We find the final ground-state occupation to be 98(1)%. We measure the heating rate of the trap to be very low with $\stackrel{\ifmmode \dot{}\else \textperiodcentered \fi{}}{\overline{n}}\ensuremath{\approx}0.3(2)\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ for trap frequencies from 150--400 kHz, consistent with the large ion-electrode distance.
This thesis presents work aimed towards achieving sideband cooling of 40Ca+ ions in a Penning trap. The observation of an increase in the number of quantum jumps as a function of the trapping magnetic field is first presented. This observation is explained by the ion falling into a long-lived D5/2 state, out of which the ion is not being re-pumped. The ion can fall into this state due to mixing of the fine structure components with the same mJ quantum number induced by the applied magnetic field. A calculation of the mixing and shelving rate as a function of magnetic field strength is presented. This theory matches well with the experimental results observed. This work has been presented in a publication in which a perturbative analysis was used. An alternative analysis is presented here in which the full Hamiltonian is diagonalised. The essential conclusions however remain unchanged. This ‘J-state mixing’ effect means re-pumping from each of the six D5/2 state sub-levels of our ion is required for efficient laser cooling. This is achieved by the addition of a system comprising an 854 nm laser and a fibre EOM to provide the radiation required to re-pump these levels. The same EOM is then used to re-pump out of the four sub-levels of the D3/2 state using a single 866 nm laser. This is a great simplification of the experimental setup required to cool a 40Ca+ ion in a Penning trap which would otherwise require ten separate lasers to independently address each of the D sub-states. Achieving efficient repumping leads to the ability to perform pulsed spectroscopy on the quadrupole S1/2 → D5/2 transition in 40Ca+ . Preliminary results of this spectroscopy in a radio-frequency trap are presented.