We crystallize up to 15 ^{40}Ca^{+} ions in a ring with a microfabricated silicon surface Paul trap. Delocalization of the Doppler laser-cooled ions shows that the translational symmetry of the ion ring is preserved at millikelvin temperatures. By characterizing the collective motion of the ion crystals, we identify homogeneous electric fields as the dominant symmetry-breaking mechanism at this energy scale. With increasing ion numbers, such detrimental effects are reduced. We predict that, with only a ten-ion ring, uncompensated homogeneous fields will not break the translational symmetry of the rotational ground state. This experiment opens a door towards studying quantum many-body physics with translational symmetry at the single-particle level.We crystallize up to 15 ^{40}Ca^{+} ions in a ring with a microfabricated silicon surface Paul trap. Delocalization of the Doppler laser-cooled ions shows that the translational symmetry of the ion ring is preserved at millikelvin temperatures. By characterizing the collective motion of the ion crystals, we identify homogeneous electric fields as the dominant symmetry-breaking mechanism at this energy scale. With increasing ion numbers, such detrimental effects are reduced. We predict that, with only a ten-ion ring, uncompensated homogeneous fields will not break the translational symmetry of the rotational ground state. This experiment opens a door towards studying quantum many-body physics with translational symmetry at the single-particle level.

arXiv:1605.02143Physical Review LettersJan 31, 201746 citations

Trapped Ion Spectroscopy

Frank Schlawin

Springer thesesSep 10, 20163 citations

Crystallization of Ca+ ions in a linear rf octupole ion trap

K. Okada, Kazuhiro Yasuda, Toshinobu Takayanagi +3 more

A laser-cooling experiment with ${\mathrm{Ca}}^{+}$ ions trapped in a linear rf octupole ion trap is presented. The phase transition of the laser-cooled ${\mathrm{Ca}}^{+}$ ions from the cloud to the crystal state is observed by an abrupt dip of the laser-induced fluorescence spectrum and indicates that mK temperatures are obtained. We have also performed molecular dynamics simulations under various conditions to confirm this property by deducing axially symmetric structures of Coulomb crystals and by evaluating the translational temperatures of the laser-cooled ions. The simulation results show that for small numbers of ions novel ring-shaped crystals are produced. As the number of ions is increased, cylindrical layers in the ring crystal are sequentially formed. For more than 100 ions, also hexagonal and spiral structures emerge in parts of the large-size ion crystal, which has a length on the order of millimeters for the present geometrical arrangement and voltages. An advantage of the linear rf octupole trap is its large almost-field-free region in the middle of the trap, where the micromotion amplitude is small for trapped ions. These results demonstrate that such a multipole trap has attractive features for quantum computing and ultracold ion-atom collision studies.A laser-cooling experiment with ${\mathrm{Ca}}^{+}$ ions trapped in a linear rf octupole ion trap is presented. The phase transition of the laser-cooled ${\mathrm{Ca}}^{+}$ ions from the cloud to the crystal state is observed by an abrupt dip of the laser-induced fluorescence spectrum and indicates that mK temperatures are obtained. We have also performed molecular dynamics simulations under various conditions to confirm this property by deducing axially symmetric structures of Coulomb crystals and by evaluating the translational temperatures of the laser-cooled ions. The simulation results show that for small numbers of ions novel ring-shaped crystals are produced. As the number of ions is increased, cylindrical layers in the ring crystal are sequentially formed. For more than 100 ions, also hexagonal and spiral structures emerge in parts of the large-size ion crystal, which has a length on the order of millimeters for the present geometrical arrangement and voltages. An advantage of the linear rf octupole trap is its large almost-field-free region in the middle of the trap, where the micromotion amplitude is small for trapped ions. These results demonstrate that such a multipole trap has attractive features for quantum computing and ultracold ion-atom collision studies.

Physical Review AMar 22, 200752 citations

Tracking a Trapped Ion Crystal

Anonymous

PhysicsJun 29, 20170 citations

A laser-cooling experiment with

{\mathrm{Ca}}^{+}

ions trapped in a linear rf octupole ion trap is presented. The phase transition of the laser-cooled

{\mathrm{Ca}}^{+}

ions from the cloud to the crystal state is observed by an abrupt dip of the laser-induced fluorescence spectrum and indicates that mK temperatures are obtained. We have also performed molecular dynamics simulations under various conditions to confirm this property by deducing axially symmetric structures of Coulomb crystals and by evaluating the translational temperatures of the laser-cooled ions. The simulation results show that for small numbers of ions novel ring-shaped crystals are produced. As the number of ions is increased, cylindrical layers in the ring crystal are sequentially formed. For more than 100 ions, also hexagonal and spiral structures emerge in parts of the large-size ion crystal, which has a length on the order of millimeters for the present geometrical arrangement and voltages. An advantage of the linear rf octupole trap is its large almost-field-free region in the middle of the trap, where the micromotion amplitude is small for trapped ions. These results demonstrate that such a multipole trap has attractive features for quantum computing and ultracold ion-atom collision studies.