Implementation of a symmetric surface electrode ion trap with field compensation using a modulated Raman effect

Understand

We describe the fabrication and characterization of a new surface-electrode Paul ion trap designed for experiments in scalable quantum information processing with Ca+.

• A notable feature is a symmetric electrode pattern which allows rotation of the normal modes of ion motion, yielding efficient Doppler cooling with a single beam parallel to the planar surface.
• We propose and implement a technique for micromotion compensation in all directions using an infrared repumper laser beam directed into the trap plane.
• Finally, we employ an alternate repumping scheme that increases ion fluorescence and simplifies heating rate measurements obtained by time-resolved ion fluorescence during Doppler cooling.