Enhanced-micromotion reduction and elimination

Micromotion is the driven motion of trapped ions in rf traps. In practical traps, the micromotion is often greatly enhanced due to “dirty effects” such as stray dc fields from surface patch effects and/or rf phase differences between the endcaps of a quadrupole trap. Large micromotions can have adverse effects on precision measurements and quantum experiments that the trapped ions are best suited for. We present here a new approach to reduce and eliminate the enhanced micromotion. The approach uses a novel Paul-Straubel-Kingdon trap in which ions are loaded indirectly to avoid contamination of the trap surfaces.