Integrated Optical Addressing of a Trapped Ytterbium Ion

Abstract

We report on the characterization of heating rates and photoinduced electric charging on a microfabricated surface ion trap with integrated waveguides. Microfabricated surface ion traps have received considerable attention as a quantum information platform due to their scalability and manufacturability. Here, we characterize the delivery of 435-nm light through waveguides and diffractive couplers to a single ytterbium ion in a compact trap. We measure an axial heating rate at room temperature of 0.78±0.05 q/ms and see no increase due to the presence of the waveguide. Furthermore, the electric field due to charging of the exposed dielectric outcoupler settles under normal operation after an initial shift. The frequency instability after settling is measured to be 0.9 kHz.