Myunghun Kim

We describe a complete development process of a segmented-blade linear ion trap. Alumina substrate is characterized with an X-ray diffraction and loss-tangent measurement. The blade is laser-micromachined and polished, followed by the sputtering and gold electroplating. Surface roughness is examined at each step of the fabrication via both electron and optical microscopies. On the gold-plated facet, we obtain a height deviation of tens of nanometers in the vicinity of the ion position. Trapping of laser-cooled $^{174}$Yb$^{+}$ ions is demonstrated.

We report a numerical study of a linear ion trap that has segmented blades and biasing rods. Our system consists of radio frequency (rf) blades, dc blades with ten separate electrodes, and two biasing rods for compensating the ions' micromotion. After calculating the optical access for the ions, we find rf and dc voltages that result in a stable trapping configuration of $^{171}$Yb$^{+}$ ions. We also explore the micromotion compensation with the biasing rods, and calculate the influence of blade misalignment to the trap potential. Our work offers quantitative understanding of the trap architecture, assisting reliable operation of an ion-trap quantum computer.