Cooling dynamics of a single trapped ion via elastic collisions with small-mass atoms

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates efficient sympathetic cooling of a single trapped ion using ultracold small-mass atoms, explaining the process with a rate equation model and highlighting its significance for advancing ion cooling techniques.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence and a theoretical model for cooling a single ion with ultracold small-mass atoms, improving understanding of collisional cooling efficiency.

Findings

Efficient cooling achieved by suppressing collision-induced heating.

A simple rate equation model explains the experimental results.

Quantitative discussion of cooling efficiency per collision.

Abstract

We demonstrated sympathetic cooling of a single ion in a buffer gas of ultracold atoms with small mass. Efficient collisional cooling was realized by suppressing collision-induced heating. We attempt to explain the experimental results with a simple rate equation model and provide a quantitative discussion of the cooling efficiency per collision. The knowledge we obtained in this work is an important ingredient for advancing the technique of sympathetic cooling of ions with neutral atoms.