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Ph.D. Thesis - Physics

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Figure 9-6: <strong>Ph</strong>otograph of the fork holding the wire, mounted above the trap in the vacuum<br />

chamber. The fork is machined from stainless steel, and ceramic spacers inserted into the<br />

arms of the fork provide the wire’s electrical isolation. The wire, due to its 25 µm width,<br />

may be difficult to see in the picture.<br />

A photograph of this setup is presented in Fig. 9-6.<br />

9.2 Experimental methodology<br />

9.2.1 Compensation and frequency measurements<br />

The measurement of secular frequencies is done as described before (Chs. 5-7). The measure-<br />

ment of compensation voltages was done in an interesting way that has not been described<br />

in this thesis before. The idea is to mix in the resonant voltage at the secular frequencies<br />

directly on the rf electrodes. If the ion is at the rf null, then it will not be excited by this<br />

field; otherwise, the excitation of the secular motion can be observed. Typically, a small<br />

voltage will be required at first to excite an uncompensated ion. As compensation improves,<br />

this voltage can be increased.<br />

9.2.2 Heating rate measurements<br />

Heating rate measurements for higher levels of heating (many quanta/s) can be done using<br />

the method of Doppler recooling. This method was described theoretically in Ref. [WEL + 07]<br />

and then demonstrated experimentally in Ref. [ESL + 07]. The method consists of the fol-<br />

lowing steps:<br />

1. Doppler cool a single ion to its steady-state fluorescence level.<br />

2. Turn off the cooling laser for a period of time.<br />

3. Switch on the cooling laser and record the ion’s fluorescence as a function of time.<br />

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