Research
At the Ion Trapping group at Imperial College London we use a Penning trap in order to spatially confine singly-ionised calcium-40 ions. We then use lasers to cool them to millikelvin temperatures. A Penning trap is a type of ion trap that uses static electric and magnetic fields, rather than the radio-frequency oscillating electric fields found in a Paul trap. Positive voltages are applied to two endcap electrodes which creates a harmonic potential along the axis of the trap, and a magnetic field is applied along this axis which causes the ions to orbit the centre of the trap in the plane perpendicular to it.
Six ion chain w/ one dark
The magnetic field means that there is a large splitting of the electronic energy levels and we need to address many different transitions in order to create a closed laser cooling cycle.
The focus of our current research is split into two main areas: working with single ions in order to perform high-resolution spectroscopy and to achieve cooling beyond the Doppler limit, and also the control of small ion Coulomb crystals.
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