Lucia Duca

Isomerization, i.e. the rearrangement between distinct molecular configurations, is a fundamental process in chemistry. Here we demonstrate that two-dimensional Coulomb crystals can emulate molecular isomerization and be used to characterize its physical mechanisms. In our molecular analogue, the confining potential acts as an electronic orbital, which can be tuned continuously and dynamically. We use a planar crystal of six 138Ba+ ions, which exhibits two stable configurations depending on the aspect ratio of the harmonic trapping potential. By changing this aspect ratio, we directly modify the potential energy surface (PES) of the ion crystal, and trigger isomerization in a controlled way. We identify a region of bistability between the two isomers, and use configuration-resolved imaging to detect isomerization in real time. A Monte Carlo simulation is used to calculate the double well PES. By comparing simulated transition rates with experimental population ratios, we estimate the crystal's temperature. Additionally, we prepare metastable configurations by rapidly quenching the PES, and detect isomerization dynamics with sub-millisecond resolution. Our work establishes a new platform for emulating molecular processes, paving the way for studying quantum superpositions of crystal configurations, and for controlling isomeric excitations in two-dimensional Coulomb crystals.

In the development of atomic, molecular and optical (AMO) physics, atom-ion hybrid systems are characterized by the presence of a new tool in the experimental AMO toolbox: atom-ion interactions. One of the main limitations in state-of-the-art atom-ion experiments is represented by the micromotion component of the ions' dynamics in a Paul trap, as the presence of micromotion in atom-ion collisions results in a heating mechanism that prevents atom-ion mixtures from undergoing a coherent evolution. Here we report the design and the simulation of a novel ion trapping setup especially conceived for the integration with an ultracold atoms experiment. The ion confinement is realized by using an electro-optical trap based on the combination of an optical and an electrostatic field, so that no micromotion component will be present in the ions' dynamics. The confining optical field is generated by a deep optical lattice created at the crossing of a bow-tie cavity, while a static electric quadrupole ensures the ions' confinement in the plane orthogonal to the optical lattice. The setup is also equipped with a Paul trap for cooling the ions produced by photoionization of a hot atomic beam, and the design of the two ion traps facilitates the swapping of the ions from the Paul trap to the electro-optical trap.

Modern experiments with fundamental quantum systems - like ultracold atoms, trapped ions, single photons - are managed by a control system formed by a number of input/output electronic channels governed by a computer. In hybrid quantum systems, where two or more quantum systems are combined and made to interact, establishing an efficient control system is particularly challenging due to the higher complexity, especially when each single quantum system is characterized by a different timescale. Here we present a new control apparatus specifically designed to efficiently manage hybrid quantum systems. The apparatus is formed by a network of fast communicating Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), the action of which is administrated by a software. Both hardware and software share the same tree-like structure, which ensures a full scalability of the control apparatus. In the hardware, a master board acts on a number of slave boards, each of which is equipped with an FPGA that locally drives analog and digital input/output channels and radiofrequency (RF) outputs up to 400 MHz. The software is designed to be a general platform for managing both commercial and home-made instruments in a user-friendly and intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI). The architecture ensures that complex control protocols can be carried out, such as performing of concurrent commands loops by acting on different channels, the generation of multi-variable error functions and the implementation of self-optimization procedures. Although designed for managing experiments with hybrid quantum systems, in particular with atom-ion mixtures, this control apparatus can in principle be used in any experiment in atomic, molecular, and optical physics.

Paul traps are widely used to confine electrically charged particles like atomic and molecular ions by using an intense radiofrequency (RF) field, typically obtained by a voltage drop on capacitative electrodes placed in vacuum. We present a RF drive realized on a compact printed circuit board (PCB) and providing a high-voltage RF signal to a quadrupole Paul trap. The circuit is formed by four interdependent resonant circuits $-$ each of which connected to an electrode of a Paul trap $-$ fed by low-noise amplifiers, leading to an output voltage of peak-to-peak amplitude up to 200 V at 3.23 MHz. The presence of a single resonant circuit for each electrode ensures a strong control on the voltage drop on each electrode, e.g. by applying a DC field through a bias tee. Additionally, the moderate quality factor Q = 67 of the resonant circuits ensures a fast operation of the drive, which can be turned on and off in less than 10 $μ$s. Finally, the RF lines are equipped with pick-ups that sample the RF in phase and amplitude, thus providing a signal that can be used to actively control the voltage drop at the trap's electrodes. Thanks to its features, this drive is particularly suited for experiments in which high trap stability and excellent micromotion compensation are required.