An open-endcap blade trap for radial-2D ion crystals

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel open-endcap RF trap design that enables stable confinement and imaging of large 2D ion crystals, facilitating advanced quantum simulations and experiments.

Contribution

The paper presents a new open-endcap trap design that allows for site-resolved imaging of 2D ion crystals with up to 29 ions, addressing previous design limitations.

Findings

Successfully confined 29 ions in a 2D triangular lattice

Achieved site-resolved imaging of the ion crystal

Demonstrated stable operation of the open-endcap trap

Abstract

We present the design and experimental demonstration of an open-endcap radio frequency trap to confine ion crystals in the radial-two dimensional (2D) structural phase. The central axis of the trap is kept free of obstructions to allow for site-resolved imaging of ions in the 2D crystal plane, and the confining potentials are provided by four segmented blade electrodes. We discuss the design challenges, fabrication techniques, and voltage requirements for implementing this open-endcap trap. Finally, we validate its operation by confining up to 29 ions in a 2D triangular lattice, oriented such that both in-plane principal axes of the 2D crystal lie in the radial direction.