A fully fiber-integrated ion trap for portable quantum technologies

Abstract

Trapped ions are a promising platform for the deployment of quantum technologies. However, traditional ion trap experiments tend to be bulky and environment-sensitive due to the use of free-space optics. Here we present a single-ion trap with integrated optical fibers directly embedded within the trap structure, to deliver laser light as well as to collect the ion’s fluorescence. This eliminates the need for optical windows. We characterise the system’s performance and measure the ion’s fluorescence with signal-to-background ratios on the order of 50, which allows us to perform internal state readout measurements with a fidelity over 99% in 600 $$\upmu$$ μ s. We test the system’s resilience to thermal variations in the range between 22 and 53 $$^{\circ }$$ ∘ C, and the system’s vibration resilience at 34 Hz and 300 Hz and find no effect on its performance. The combination of compactness and robustness of our fiber-coupled trap makes it well suited for applications in, as well as outside, research laboratory environments, and in particular for highly compact portable quantum technologies, such as portable optical atomic clocks. While our system is designed for trapping 40Ca+ ions the fundamental design principles can be applied to other ion species.