We present designs for multipole ion traps based on a set of planar, annular, concentric electrodes which require only rf potentials to confine ions. We illustrate the desirable properties of the traps by considering a few simple cases of confined io
ns. We predict that mm-scale surface traps may have trap depths as high as tens of electron volts, or micromotion amplitudes in a 2-D ion crystal as low as tens of nanometers, when parameters of a magnitude common in the field are chosen. Several example traps are studied, and the scaling of those properties with voltage, frequency, and trap scale, for small numbers of ions, is derived. In addition, ions with very high charge-to-mass ratios may be confined in the trap, and species of very different charge-to-mass ratios may be simultaneously confined. Applications of these traps include quantum information science, frequency metrology, and cold ion-atom collisions.
Two-dimensional crystals of trapped ions are a promising system with which to implement quantum simulations of challenging problems such as spin frustration. Here, we present a design for a surface-electrode elliptical ion trap which produces a 2-D i
on crystal and is amenable to microfabrication, which would enable higher simulated coupling rates, as well as interactions based on magnetic forces generated by on-chip currents. Working in an 11 K cryogenic environment, we experimentally verify to within 5% a numerical model of the structure of ion crystals in the trap. We also explore the possibility of implementing quantum simulation using magnetic forces, and calculate J-coupling rates on the order of 10^3 / s for an ion crystal height of 10 microns, using a current of 1 A.
We present a new method for nanoscale atom lithography. We propose the use of a supersonic atomic beam, which provides an extremely high-brightness and cold source of fast atoms. The atoms are to be focused onto a substrate using a thin magnetic film
, into which apertures with widths on the order of 100 nm have been etched. Focused spot sizes near or below 10 nm, with focal lengths on the order of 10 microns, are predicted. This scheme is applicable both to precision patterning of surfaces with metastable atomic beams and to direct deposition of material.
Quantum simulations of spin systems could enable the solution of problems which otherwise require infeasible classical resources. Such a simulation may be implemented using a well-controlled system of effective spins, such as a two-dimensional lattic
e of locally interacting ions. We propose here a layered planar rf trap design that can be used to create arbitrary two-dimensional lattices of ions. The design also leads naturally to ease of microfabrication. As a first experimental demonstration, we confine strontium-88 ions in a mm-scale lattice trap and verify numerical models of the trap by measuring the motional frequencies. We also confine 440 nm diameter charged microspheres and observe ion-ion repulsion between ions in neighboring lattice sites. Our design, when scaled to smaller ion-ion distances, is appropriate for quantum simulation schemes, e.g. that of Porras and Cirac (PRL 92 207901 (2004)). We note, however, that in practical realizations of the trap, an increase in the secular frequency with decreasing ion spacing may make a coupling rate that is large relative to the decoherence rate in such a trap difficult to achieve.
