0000000000260979
AUTHOR
Joaquín Berrocal
Dynamics of an unbalanced two-ion crystal in a Penning trap for application in optical mass spectrometry
In this article, the dynamics of an unbalanced two-ion crystal comprising the 'target' and the 'sensor' ions confined in a Penning trap has been studied. First, the low amplitude regime is addressed. In this regime, the overall potential including the Coulomb repulsion between the ions can be considered harmonic and the axial, magnetron and reduced-cyclotron modes split up into the so-called 'stretch' and 'common' modes, that are generalizations of the well-known 'breathing' and 'center-of-mass' motions of a balanced crystal made of two ions. By measuring the frequency modes of the crystal and the sensor ion eigenfrequencies using optical detection, it will be possible to determine the targ…
The TRAPSENSOR facility: an open-ring 7 tesla Penning trap for laserbased precision experiments
APenning-trap facility for high-precision mass spectrometry based on a novel detection method has been built. This method consists in measuring motional frequencies of singly-charged ions trapped in strong magnetic fields through the fluorescence photons from laser-cooled 40Ca+ ions, to overcome limitations faced in electronic single-ion detection techniques. The key element of this facility is an open-ring Penning trap coupled upstream to a preparation Penning trap similar to those used at Radioactive Ion Beam facilities. Here we present a full characterization of the trap and demonstrate motional frequency measurements of trapped ions stored by applying external radiofrequency fields in r…
Quartz resonators for penning traps toward mass spectrometry on the heaviest ions
We report on cyclotron frequency measurements on trapped 206,207Pb+ ions by means of the non-destructive Fourier-transform ion-cyclotron-resonance technique at room temperature. In a proof-of-principle experiment using a quartz crystal instead of a coil as a resonator, we have alternately carried out cyclotron frequency measurements for 206Pb+ and 207Pb+ with the sideband coupling method to obtain 21 cyclotron-frequency ratios with a statistical uncertainty of 6 × 10−7. The mean frequency ratio R¯ deviates by about 2σ from the value deduced from the masses reported in the latest Atomic Mass Evaluation. We anticipate that this shift is due to the ion–ion interaction between the simultaneousl…
A quartz amplifier for high-sensitivity Fourier-transform ion-cyclotron-resonance measurements with trapped ions
Single-ion sensitivity is obtained in precision Penning-trap experiments devoted to light (anti)particles or ions with low mass-to-charge ratios, by adding an inductance coil to an amplifier connected to the trap, both operated at 4 K. However, single-ion sensitivity has not been reached on heavy singly or doubly charged ions. In this publication, we present a new system to reach this point, based on the use of a quartz crystal as an inductance, together with a newly developed broad-band (BB) amplifier. We detect the reduced-cyclotron frequency of 40Ca+ ions stored in a 7-tesla open-ring Penning trap. By comparing the detected electric signal obtained with the BB amplifier and the fluoresce…