Magic trapping of a Rydberg ion with a diminished static polarizability

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to achieve state-independent magic trapping of Rydberg ions by coupling states with opposite polarizabilities, enabling coherent excitation without motional control.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to reduce electric field sensitivity in Rydberg ions through engineered state coupling for magic trapping.

Findings

Successfully engineered a Rydberg state with diminished static polarizability.

Achieved coherent excitation of the ion to the Rydberg state without motional control.

Demonstrated state-independent trapping potential for Rydberg ions.

Abstract

Highly excited Rydberg states are usually extremely polarizable and exceedingly sensitive to electric fields. Because of this Rydberg ions confined in electric fields have state-dependent trapping potentials. We engineer a Rydberg state that is insensitive to electric fields by coupling two Rydberg states with static polarizabilities of opposite sign, in this way we achieve state-independent magic trapping. We show that the magically-trapped ion can be coherently excited to the Rydberg state without the need for control of the ion's motion.