End-Cap Type Paul Trap for Precision Spectroscopy

Anand Prakash1, Akhil Ayyadevara1, E. Krishnakumar1, M. Ibrahim1,

K. M. Yatheendran1, S. Patra1,3, S. De2, S. A. Rangwala1

1Raman Research Institute, C. V. Raman Avenue, Sadashivanagar, Bangalore- 560080, India

2The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Postbag 4, Ganeshkhind,

Pune- 411007, Maharashtra, India

3Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Ave, Livermore, CA 94550, USA

An end-cap type trap is a geometrical variation of the ideal Paul trap. It offers better optical access for cooling and imaging of trapped ions. It is one of the promising trap geometries for optical clock experiments. This is the first report where the trapping and cooling of an ion is shown in an indigenously designed, machined and assembled end-cap type trap. We will present the trap’s design, fabrication, assembly details, and initial result. The model has been designed to make the machining feasible in India. A low-divergence atomic source is designed to load this trap. The working species in our case is Ca+. It is designed to operate as a state-of-the-art ion clock at IUCAA(Yb+) and IIT Tirupati (Ca+). This type of trap is also suitable for studying the thermodynamics of small systems, coulomb crystals, etc.

References:

1. C. A. Schrama, E. Peik, W.W. Smith, H. Walther, Novel miniature ion traps. Opt. Commun. 101, 32–36 (1993)

2. B. Stein, Ph.D. thesis, Universitat Hannover, (2010)

3. Nisbet-Jones, P.B.R., King, S.A., Jones, J.M. et al. A single-ion trap with minimized ion–environment interactions. Appl. Phys. B 122, 57 (2016)

4. Abdel-Hafiz, Moustafa et al. “Guidelines for developing optical clocks with 10−18 fractional frequency uncertainty.” arXiv: Atomic Physics (2019)

5. Prakash A, Ayyadevara A, Krishnakumar E, Rangwala SA. Low divergence cold-wall oven for loading ion traps. Rev Sci Instrum. 2024 Mar 1;95(3):033202.