Developing a modular ion trap characterization setup

Abstract

Cold ion trapping plays a pivotal role in quantum information processing and precision measurements. This Final Year Project thesis presents the development of a laser setup designed for ablation loading, which is used to ablate neutral barium atoms from a barium chloride (BaCl2) stable compound. The neutral atoms are then excited using a 413nm laser and the spontaneous decay will emit a corresponding photon of 660nm. We were able to extract a colour-corrected image of the plume spot and superimposed it with the original setup. Concurrently, we leverage on the Multiphysics Simulation Software, COMSOL, to investigate the pseudopotential landscape of a six-wire surface electrode ion trap, revealing critical details about the trap centre and escape point.