Implementation of a symmetric surface electrode ion trap with field compensation using a modulated Raman effect

TL;DR

This paper presents a new symmetric surface-electrode ion trap with field compensation techniques, enabling efficient cooling and simplified measurements for scalable quantum information processing with Ca+ ions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel symmetric electrode design and a comprehensive micromotion compensation method using an infrared repumper laser.

Findings

Efficient Doppler cooling with a single laser beam.

Enhanced ion fluorescence through an alternate repumping scheme.

Successful micromotion compensation in all directions.

Abstract

We describe the fabrication and characterization of a new surface-electrode Paul ion trap designed for experiments in scalable quantum information processing with Ca+. A notable feature is a symmetric electrode pattern which allows rotation of the normal modes of ion motion, yielding efficient Doppler cooling with a single beam parallel to the planar surface. We propose and implement a technique for micromotion compensation in all directions using an infrared repumper laser beam directed into the trap plane. Finally, we employ an alternate repumping scheme that increases ion fluorescence and simplifies heating rate measurements obtained by time-resolved ion fluorescence during Doppler cooling.