A single-ion trap with minimized ion–environment interactions

We present a new single-ion endcap trap for high-precision spectroscopy that has been designed to minimize ion–environment interactions. We describe the design in detail and then characterize the working trap using a single trapped 171Yb+\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$^{171}{\rm Yb}^{+}$$\end{document} ion. Excess micromotion has been eliminated to the resolution of the detection method, and the trap exhibits an anomalous phonon heating rate of d⟨n⟩/dt=24-24+30s-1\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$d\langle n\rangle /{\mathrm{d}}t = 24 ^{+30}_{-24}\,{\rm s}^{-1}$$\end{document}. The thermal properties of the trap structure have also been measured with an effective temperature rise at the ion’s position of ΔT(ion)=0.14±0.14K\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\Delta }T_{\mathrm{(ion)}} = 0.14 \pm 0.14\,{\rm K}$$\end{document}. The small perturbations to the ion caused by this trap make it suitable to be used for an optical frequency standard with fractional uncertainties below the 10-18\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$10^{-18}$$\end{document} level.