Image Current Detection of Electrons in a Room-Temperature Paul Trap

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the detection of electrons in a room-temperature Paul trap using image current detection at microwave frequencies, enabling insights into electron behavior and potential ground-state cooling.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method leveraging cavity modes for electron detection in a room-temperature Paul trap, advancing the capabilities of electron control and measurement.

Findings

Successful detection of electron signals via cavity modes

Observation of mode excitation and exponential decay due to resistive cooling

Detuning electrons from cavity resonance affects their oscillatory spectrum

Abstract

We report the image current detection of electrons in a room-temperature Paul trap at microwave frequencies. By selectively leveraging distinct cavity modes for trapping and detection, our approach effectively extracts electron signals otherwise buried in the microwave drive used for pseudo-potential formation. When the trapped electrons resonate with the cavity mode, we observe a mode excitation and its exponential decay attributed to resistive cooling. Detuning electrons from the cavity resonance halts this decay, and sweeping electrons' secular frequency reveals their oscillatory spectrum. Implementing this experiment at cryogenic temperatures could enable the image current detection and ground-state cooling of a single electron in Paul traps.