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arXiv · 2109.05174

Increase of barium ion-trap lifetime via photodissociation

Hao Wu·Michael Mills·Elizabeth West·Michael C. Heaven·Eric R. Hudson
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Abstract

The lifetime of Ba$^+$ ions confined in a Paul trap is found, under typical conditions, to be limited by chemical reactions with residual background gas. An integrated ion trap and time-of-flight mass spectrometer are used to analyze the reactions of the trapped Ba$^+$ ions with three common gases in an ultrahigh vacuum system (H$_2$, CO$_2$ and H$_2$O). It is found that the products of these reactions can all be photodissociated by a single ultraviolet laser at 225~nm, thereby allowing the recovery of the Ba$^+$ ions and leading to an increase of the effective trap lifetime. For a Coulomb crystal, the lifetime increased from roughly 6~hours to 2~days at room temperature. It is suggested that higher enhancement factors are possible in systems with stronger traps. In addition, photodissociation wavelengths for other common trapped ion systems are provided.

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Hao Wu, Michael Mills, Elizabeth West, Michael C. Heaven, Eric R. Hudson. 2021-09-11. Increase of barium ion-trap lifetime via photodissociation. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.104.063103

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