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As a preliminary towards our plans to study heat transport in nanoscale systems using trapped ion chains as a 1D model, we need to measure the isotope shift in the Ca+ 729 nm electric quadrupole transition.  It turns out that … Continue reading →

After implementing a new diode laser at 866 nm and an AOM at 397 nm, Ashay Patel ’18 has successfully trapped our first mixed-species chains.  Pictured here are 40Ca+ and 44Ca+ : In both the top and bottom part of the … Continue reading →

Our longer term work in the lab will involve studying heat flow in mixed-species chains of two isotopes of calcium ions.  To build these chains with a particular isotopic sequence, we will load one ion into the trap at a … Continue reading →

Ions stored in a radio-frequency Paul trap such as ours can be perturbed by stray electric fields that result from patches of charge on the trap electrodes.  Making the trap function at its best thus requires these fields be measured … Continue reading →

Ashay Patel ’18 has recently finished building a TTL-controlled RF switch based around components from MiniCircuits.  By driving a trap electrode with short pulses of RF (known among ion trappers as a `DC tickle’) we can excite the motional modes … Continue reading →

After a summer and part of a fall building an experiment control system – thanks to thesis student Sierra Jubin ’17 for preliminary work – we can finally control our 4-channel DDS to drive AOMs (built by Ashay Patel ’18), … Continue reading →

Our lab uses a home-built high NA lens based on a design by Curtis Volin from GTRI.  Our original lens was performing poorly; it collected lots of light, but did not focus it terribly tightly.  So, using the freeware raytracer … Continue reading →

Ashay Patel ’18 has finished building a serial-controlled frequency source.  We will use this box to control the timing, intensity, and frequency of the laser pulses we use to cool, manipulate, and detect our trapped ions.  

Prof. Doret has been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation for “Measuring Nanoscale Thermal Transport with Trapped Ions.”

Kirby Gordon ’20 has built an elegant four-channel controller which we will soon use to drive mechanical shutters constructed from laptop hard drives (following Rev. Sci. Instrum. 75, 3077 (2004) and Rev. Sci. Instrum. 78, 026101 (2007)).  TTL pulses sent to the controller … Continue reading →