Evidence for multiple mechanisms underlying surface-electric field noise in ion traps

Published

December 27, 2018

Author(s)

J. A. Sedlacek, J. Stuart, Daniel Slichter, C. D. Bruzewicz, R. McConnell, J. M. Sage, J. Chiaverini

Abstract

Energetic ion bombardment, or ion milling, of ion-trap electrode surfaces has previously been shown to reduce electric-field noise, a limit to quantum-logic gate fidelity, generated by the surface. Here, using motional heating of a single trapped strontium ion, we investigate the temperature dependence of this noise above surface-electrode ion traps before and after ex situ argon-ion milling. Making measurements over a trap electrode temperature range of 4 to 295 K in both sputtered niobium and electroplated gold traps, we see a marked change in the functional form of the electric-field-noise scaling after kilo-electronvolt-scale ion milling: power-law behavior in untreated surfaces is transformed to Arrhenius behavior after treatment. This, along with the emergence of material-dependent noise behavior, strongly suggests that different noise mechanisms are at work before and after ion milling. To constrain potential noise mechanisms, we measured the frequency dependence of the electric-field noise, as well as its dependence on ion-electrode distance, for niobium traps both before and after ion milling. These scalings were unchanged by ion milling.

Citation

Physical Review A

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

anomalous heating, electric field noise, ion milling, ion trap

Citation

Sedlacek, J. , Stuart, J. , Slichter, D. , Bruzewicz, C. , McConnell, R. , Sage, J. and Chiaverini, J. (2018), Evidence for multiple mechanisms underlying surface-electric field noise in ion traps, Physical Review A, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=926567 (Accessed October 9, 2025)