Suppression of Ion Transport due to Long-Lived Sub-Wavelength Localization by an Optical Lattice

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates ion localization in a one-dimensional optical lattice under external force, showing suppression of ion transport and enabling studies of many-body systems with long-range interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a method to localize ions in an optical lattice under external force, with high spatial resolution and long-term stability, advancing quantum simulation capabilities.

Findings

Ion localization achieved with suppression of ion transport.

Localization maintained for up to 10 milliseconds.

Detection resolution down to λ/40.

Abstract

We report the localization of an ion by a one-dimensional optical lattice in the presence of an applied external force. The ion is confined radially by a radiofrequency trap and axially by a combined electrostatic and optical-lattice potential. The ion is cooled using a resolved Raman sideband technique to a mean vibrational number <n> = 0.6 \pm 0.1 along the optical lattice. We implement a detection method to monitor the position of the ion subject to a periodic electrical driving force with a resolution down to \lambda/40, and demonstrate suppression of the driven ion motion and localization to a single lattice site on time scales of up to 10 milliseconds. This opens new possibilities for studying many-body systems with long-range interactions in periodic potentials.