Measurement of Ion Motional Heating Rates over a Range of Trap Frequencies and Temperatures

TL;DR

This study measures ion motional heating rates across various trap frequencies and temperatures, investigates surface contamination effects, and compares results with existing noise models to identify areas needing theoretical refinement.

Contribution

It provides new experimental data on ion heating rates over a range of conditions and evaluates the validity of current electric-field noise models.

Findings

Heating rates vary with trap frequency and temperature.

Surface baking influences ion heating rates.

Current models do not fully explain the observed heating behavior.

Abstract

We present measurements of the motional heating rate of a trapped ion at different trap frequencies and temperatures between $\sim$0.6 and 1.5 MHz and $\sim$4 and 295 K. Additionally, we examine the possible effect of adsorbed surface contaminants with boiling points below $\sim$105$^{\circ}$C by measuring the ion heating rate before and after locally baking our ion trap chip under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. We compare the heating rates presented here to those calculated from available electric-field noise models. We can tightly constrain a subset of these models based on their expected frequency and temperature scaling interdependence. Discrepancies between the measured results and predicted values point to the need for refinement of theoretical noise models in order to more fully understand the mechanisms behind motional trapped-ion heating.