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Physics

Trapped Ions Stopped Cold

Nils Huntemann

Published Jan 30, 2017• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We report on Raman sideband cooling of 25 Mg þ to sympathetically cool the secular modes of motion in a 25 Mg þ -27 Al þ two-ion pair to near the three-dimensional (3D) ground state.The evolution of the Fock-state distribution during the cooling process is studied using a rate-equation simulation, and various heating sources that limit the efficiency of 3D sideband cooling in our system are discussed.We characterize the residual energy and heating rates of all of the secular modes of motion and estimate a secular motion time-dilation shift of -ð1.9 Æ 0.1Þ × 10 -18 for an 27 Al þ clock at a typical clock probe duration of 150 ms.This is a 50-fold reduction in the secular motion time-dilation shift uncertainty in comparison with previous 27 Al þ clocks.

DOI
10.1103/physics.10.9

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We report on Raman sideband cooling of 25 Mg þ to sympathetically cool the secular modes of motion in a 25 Mg þ -27 Al þ two-ion pair to near the three-dimensional (3D) ground state.The evolution of the Fock-state distribution during the cooling process is studied using a rate-equation simulation, and various heating sources that limit the efficiency of 3D sideband cooling in our system are discussed.We characterize the residual energy and heating rates of all of the secular modes of motion and estimate a secular motion time-dilation shift of -ð1.9 Æ 0.1Þ × 10 -18 for an 27 Al þ clock at a typical clock probe duration of 150 ms.This is a 50-fold reduction in the secular motion time-dilation shift uncertainty in comparison with previous 27 Al þ clocks.
We report on Raman sideband cooling of ^{25}Mg^{+} to sympathetically cool the secular modes of motion in a ^{25}Mg^{+}-^{27}Al^{+} two-ion pair to near the three-dimensional (3D) ground state. The evolution of the Fock-state distribution during the cooling process is studied using a rate-equation simulation, and various heating sources that limit the efficiency of 3D sideband cooling in our system are discussed. We characterize the residual energy and heating rates of all of the secular modes of motion and estimate a secular motion time-dilation shift of -(1.9±0.1)×10^{-18} for an ^{27}Al^{+} clock at a typical clock probe duration of 150 ms. This is a 50-fold reduction in the secular motion time-dilation shift uncertainty in comparison with previous ^{27}Al^{+} clocks.
We report on electromagnetically induced transparency cooling of 40Ca+ to sympathetically cool the three-dimensional secular modes of motion in a 40Ca+–27Al+ two-ion pair near the ground state. We observe simultaneous ground state cooling across all radial modes and axial modes of a 40Ca+–27Al+ ion pair, occupying a broader cooling range in frequency space over 3 MHz. The cooling time is observed to be less than 1 ms. The mean phonon number and heating rates of all motional modes are measured. This study is not only an important step for reducing the secular motion time-dilation shift uncertainty and uptime ratio of 27Al+ optical clock, but also essential for high-fidelity quantum simulations and quantum information processors using trapped ions.
Raman sideband cooling of 25^{25}25Mg+^++ -27^{27}27Al+^++ ions pair and observation of quantum logic spectra
We perform quantum logic spectroscopy (QLS) on 27^{27}27Al+^++ ion 1^11S0_00​ - 3^33P1_11​ transition, which is an important step toward the QLS based 27^{27}27Al+^++ ion optical clock. As a precondition of QLS, both the stretch (STR) mode and the common (COM) mode of the 27^{27}27Al+^++ and 25^{25}25Mg+^++ ions pair are cooled to the vibrational ground state by Raman sideband cooling. The mean phonon number is measured to be 0.10(1) for the STR mode and 0.01(1) for the COM mode, respectively. The heating rate is evaluated to be 13(3) phonons/s for the STR mode and 5.5(1) phonons/s for the COM mode.
A two-ion pair in a linear Paul trap is extensively used in the research of the simplest quantum-logic system; however, there are few quantitative and comprehensive studies on the motional mode coupling of two-ion systems yet. This study proposes a method to investigate the motional mode coupling of sympathetically cooled two-ion crystals by quantifying three-dimensional (3D) secular spectra of trapped ions using molecular dynamics simulations. The 3D resonance peaks of the 40Ca+–27Al+ pair obtained by using this method were in good agreement with the 3D in- and out-of-phase modes predicted by the mode coupling theory for two ions in equilibrium and the frequency matching errors were lower than 2%. The obtained and predicted amplitudes of these modes were also qualitatively similar. It was observed that the strength of the sympathetic interaction of the 40Ca+–27Al+ pair was primarily determined by its axial in-phase coupling. In addition, the frequencies and amplitudes of the ion pair’s resonance modes (in all dimensions) were sensitive to the relative masses of the ion pair, and a decrease in the mass mismatch enhanced the sympathetic cooling rates. The sympathetic interactions of the 40Ca+–27Al+ pair were slightly weaker than those of the 24Mg+–27Al+ pair, but significantly stronger than those of 9Be+–27Al+. However, the Doppler cooling limit temperature of 40Ca+ is comparable to that of 9Be+ but lower than approximately half of that of 24Mg+. Furthermore, laser cooling systems for 40Ca+ are more reliable than those for 24Mg+ and 9Be+. Therefore, 40Ca+ is probably the best laser-cooled ion for sympathetic cooling and quantum-logic operations of 27Al+ and has particularly more notable comprehensive advantages in the development of high reliability, compact, and transportable 27Al+ optical clocks. This methodology may be extended to multi-ion systems, and it will greatly aid efforts to control the dynamic behaviors of sympathetic cooling as well as the development of low-heating-rate quantum logic clocks.
Abstract We report on a comparative analysis of quenched sideband cooling in trapped ions. We introduce a theoretical approach for time-efficient simulation of the temporal cooling characteristics and derive the optimal conditions providing fast laser cooling into the ion’s motional ground state. The simulations were experimentally benchmarked with a single 172Yb+ ion confined in a linear Paul trap. Sideband cooling was carried out on a narrow quadrupole transition, enhanced with an additional clear-out laser for controlling the effective linewidth of the cooling transition. Quench cooling was thus for the first time studied in the resolved sideband, intermediate and semi-classical regime. We discuss the non-thermal distribution of Fock states during laser cooling and reveal its impact on time dilation shifts in optical atomic clocks.
We present the results of simulations of optical sideband cooling of atomic ions in a trap with a shallow potential well. In such traps, an ion cannot be Doppler cooled near to the Lamb-Dicke regime $\mathrm{[}{\ensuremath{\eta}}^{2}(2\ensuremath{\langle}n\ensuremath{\rangle}+1)\ensuremath{\ll}1]$. Outside the Lamb-Dicke regime, the sideband cooling dynamics are altered by the existence of various Fock states with weak coupling where the cooling becomes very slow. A 40Ca+^{40}\mathrm{Ca}^{+}40Ca+ ion trapped in our Penning trap realizes such a situation; hence single stage cooling is inefficient to prepare the ion in the motional ground state. For these systems, it is necessary to study the cooling dynamics in detail and we show that it is possible to implement an optimized cooling sequence to achieve efficient ground-state cooling. We also present the simulated cooling dynamics of two ions trapped in a Penning trap, where the presence of an additional motional mode requires a complicated cooling sequence in order to cool both axial modes to the ground state simultaneously. Additionally, we demonstrate the dissipative preparation of Fock states outside the Lamb-Dicke regime by sideband heating a single ion in a Penning trap.