Formation of Two-Ion Crystals by Injection from a Paul-Trap Source into a High-Magnetic-Field Penning Trap

Abstract

Two-ion crystals constitute a platform for investigations of quantum nature that can be extended to any ion species or charged particle provided one of the ions in the crystal can be directly laser-cooled and manipulated with laser radiation. This paper presents the formation of two-ion crystals for quantum metrology in a 7-tesla open-ring Penning trap. ${}^{40}$Ca${}^{+}$ ions are produced either internally by photoionization or externally in a (Paul-trap) source, transported through the strong magnetic field gradient of the superconducting solenoid, and captured in-flight with a mean kinetic energy of a few electronvolts with respect to the minimum of the Penning-trap potential well. Laser cooling of the two-ion crystal in a strong magnetic field towards reaching the quantum regime is also presented with particular emphasis on the cooling of the radial modes.

References in corpus (7)

• High-precision measurement of the atomic mass of the electron
• Absolute frequency measurement of the 40Ca+ S1/2 - D5/2 clock transition
• Direct mapping of nuclear shell effects in the heaviest elements
• Fluorescence during Doppler cooling of a single trapped atom
• Sympathetic cooling of a trapped proton mediated by an LC circuit
• Rapid crystallization of externally produced ions in a Penning trap
• Quantum logic inspired techniques for spacetime-symmetry tests with (anti-)protons