Preliminary characterization of a surface electrode Paul trap for frequency metrology

TL;DR

This paper reports initial measurements and design developments for a surface-electrode ion trap aimed at optical frequency metrology, including heating rates, fabrication techniques, and testing results.

Contribution

It introduces a new micro-fabricated silicon-based surface-electrode trap and provides initial characterization data and a development roadmap.

Findings

Heating rate measurements with prototype trap

Successful electric testing under ultra-high vacuum

Proposed improvements for trap design

Abstract

We are developing a single-ion optical clock based on a surface-electrode (SE) trap that we will operate with $^{171}$Yb$^+$ ions on the electric quadrupole transition at 435.5 nm. We present heating rate measurements performed with a prototype SE trap. We also introduce a new, micro-fabricated SE trapping chip using silicon on insulator technology. Electric tests were performed under ultra-high vacuum using a testing chip, including breakdown voltages measurements and flashover detection. We present suitable trapping parameters for this chip, as well as a road-map for improving its design.