Loading of large ion Coulomb crystals into a linear Paul trap incorporating an optical cavity

We demonstrate that it is possible, with sub-micron precision, to locate the absolute center of a Fabry-Pérot resonator oriented along the rf-field-free axis of a linear Paul trap through the application of two simultaneously resonating optical fields. In particular, we apply a probe field, which is near-resonant with an electronic transition of trapped ions, simultaneously with an offresonant strong field acting as a periodic AC Stark-shifting potential. Through the resulting spatially modulated fluorescence signal we can find the cavity center of an 11.7 mm-long symmetric FabryPérot cavity with a precision of ±135 nm, which is smaller than the periodicity of the individual standing wave fields. This can e.g. be used to position the minimum of the axial trap potential with respect to the center of the cavity at any location along the cavity mode.

show abstract

“…The setup used in the experiments has been described in detail in [35] and is depicted schematically in Fig. 2.…”

Section: The Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sub-micron positioning of trapped ions with respect to the absolute center of a standing-wave cavity field

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…1a schematic of the experimental setup is shown. The trap used is a linear rf trap with an optical cavity incorporated in between the four segmented electrode rods [20], such that the cavity axis is parallel to the trap's rf field-free axis (z-axis).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…40 Ca + ions are loaded into the trap via resonant two-photon photoionization [20] and subsequently Doppler cooled on the 4s 2 S 1/2 -4p 2 P 1/2 transition using two counter-propagating 397 nm laser beams while repumped on the 3d 2 P 1/2 transition with a 866 nm laser beam [11]. After the ions are cooled into a crystalline state, they are prepared by optical pumping with an efficiency of ∼ 97% into the m J = +3/2 magnetic sub-state of the long-lived metastable D 3/2 level [11].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Large ion Coulomb crystals: A near-ideal medium for coupling optical cavity modes to matter

et al. 2009

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We present an investigation of the coherent coupling of various transverse field modes of an optical cavity to ion Coulomb crystals. The obtained experimental results, which include the demonstration of identical collective coupling rates for different transverse modes of a cavity field to ions in the same large Coulomb crystal, are in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. The results furthermore suggest that Coulomb crystals in the future may serve as near-ideal media for highfidelity multi-mode quantum information processing and communication purposes, including the generation and storage of single photon qubits encoded in different transverse modes.PACS numbers: 42.50. Pq,37.30.+i,42.50.Ct For the field of quantum information to mature to a practical stage, where complex computational tasks [1] and quantum information networks [2] can be realized, careful attention has to be paid to the actual quality of the physical systems involved. While the ideal system for carrying out serious quantum computational tasks has yet to be singled out, photons remain uncontested in their position as the ideal carriers of quantum information over large distances. Consequently, there is a clear need for identifying high quality physical media suitable for e.g. single photon generation and storage as well as for the realization of quantum repeaters.Among the systems under consideration (e.g systems discussed in Ref. [2,3]), a single ion in an optical cavity appears to be an excellent candidate for such realizations [4,5,6,7]. In addition, larger ensembles of cold trapped ions in the form of so-called Coulomb crystals [8,9,10] in cavities may afford new opportunities for not only single-, but also multi-mode quantum information purposes, due to the combination of their solid state properties, including long term stability and uniform ion density throughout the crystal, and their single isolated particle features, i.e. no significant internal state perturbations due to interactions between the individual ions [11]. These features are relevant for e.g. encoding quantum information in orthogonal transverse spatial modes in contrast to the usual application of frequency and polarization degrees of freedom [12,13]. In addition, coupling to multiple modes may have applications even outside of the context of quantum information, for e.g. quantum imaging [14,15] and cavity mediated cooling [16,17,18].Important steps towards the realization of high quality single-mode quantum devices based on an ion Coulomb crystal in a cavity were very recently taken, by demonstrating that the collective strong coupling regime of Cavity Quantum ElectroDynamics [19] can be reached with large ion Coulomb crystals interacting with a cavity field at the single photon level in the fundamental TEM 00 mode of an optical cavity [11].In this paper, the potential of ion Coulomb crystals as a media for multi-mode quantum interfaces is explored by a thorough experimental investigation characterizing the coupling of the TEM 00 and TEM 10,01 transverse ...

show abstract

“…Recently, such custom-designed, in-vacuum lenses capable of collecting about 4% of the photons from an ion were used to achieve 0.2% fiber coupling efficiency for 397 nm photons from Ca + [17]. High-finesse optical cavities have also been used [18][19][20] but their full potential has yet to be attained with ions where close proximity of the dielectric cavity mirrors is detrimental to the trapping itself.Simple reflective optics offer an attractive alternative and have been previously implemented in non-imaging fluorescence detectors such as [21]. Compared to their complex refractive counterparts, reflective optics can make large deflection of light propagation with considerably fewer elements and simpler surfaces.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient fluorescence collection from trapped ions with an integrated spherical mirror

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Efficient collection of fluorescence from trapped ions is crucial for quantum optics and quantum computing applications, specifically, for qubit state detection and in generating single photons for ion-photon and remote ion entanglement. In a typical setup, only a few per cent of ion fluorescence is intercepted by the aperture of the imaging optics. We employ a simple metallic spherical mirror integrated with a linear Paul ion trap to achieve photon collection efficiency of at least 10% from a single Ba + ion. An aspheric corrector is used to reduce the aberrations caused by the mirror and achieve high image quality.With their long coherence time and the straightforward manipulation of internal and external states to store and process quantum information, trapped ions are among the most promising candidates for practical quantum computation [1][2][3]. Coupling of ionic qubits to single photons through spontaneous emission offers an attractive alternative [4] to the more traditional ion trap quantum computing architectures [5,6]. Reliable interconversion between quantum states of single ions and single photons thus becomes one of the most crucial tasks. A robust ion-photon coupling scheme is indispensable for implementing remote quantum gates between ions [7,8] and quantum repeaters [9]. Multi-element refractive optical systems are most widely used for ion and atom fluorescence collection and imaging [10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Recently, such custom-designed, in-vacuum lenses capable of collecting about 4% of the photons from an ion were used to achieve 0.2% fiber coupling efficiency for 397 nm photons from Ca + [17]. High-finesse optical cavities have also been used [18][19][20] but their full potential has yet to be attained with ions where close proximity of the dielectric cavity mirrors is detrimental to the trapping itself.Simple reflective optics offer an attractive alternative and have been previously implemented in non-imaging fluorescence detectors such as [21]. Compared to their complex refractive counterparts, reflective optics can make large deflection of light propagation with considerably fewer elements and simpler surfaces. Because no transparency is necessary, metallic optical surfaces can be used, which can be placed in close proximity to the ion without affecting the trap performance. Much higher numerical apertures (N.A.) can thus be achieved with comparatively small size optics. Though placing an ion in the focus of a parabolic mirror may be the best scenario [22], and traps designed for such implementation have been successfully demonstrated [23], a high-N.A. parabola is a complicated surface to fabricate, especially in a smallscale device, which would be required for a scalable trapped-ion quantum information processor. Spherical mirrors are much simpler and can be fabricated using standard microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology [24]. The intrinsic large image aberrations caused * shugang@u.washington.edu by the spherical mirror can be compensated with optics located outside the ...

show abstract

Loading of large ion Coulomb crystals into a linear Paul trap incorporating an optical cavity

Cited by 35 publications

References 26 publications

Sub-micron positioning of trapped ions with respect to the absolute center of a standing-wave cavity field

Sub-micron positioning of trapped ions with respect to the absolute center of a standing-wave cavity field

Large ion Coulomb crystals: A near-ideal medium for coupling optical cavity modes to matter

Efficient fluorescence collection from trapped ions with an integrated spherical mirror

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About