Interaction of UV light with cold metastable helium atoms

Hogervorst, W. [Promotor]Vassen, W. [Copromotor

Infrared dynamic polarizability of HD+ rovibrational states

A calculation of dynamic polarizabilities of rovibrational states with vibrational quantum number $v=0-7$ and rotational quantum number $J=0,1$ in the 1s$\sigma_g$ ground-state potential of HD$^+$ is presented. Polarizability contributions by transitions involving other 1s$\sigma_g$ rovibrational states are explicitly calculated, whereas contributions by electronic transitions are treated quasi-statically and partially derived from existing data [R.E. Moss and L. Valenzano, \textit{Molec. Phys.}, 2002, \textbf{100}, 1527]. Our model is valid for wavelengths $>4~\mu$m and is used to to assess level shifts due to the blackbody radiation (BBR) electric field encountered in experimental high-resolution laser spectroscopy of trapped HD$^+$ ions. Polarizabilities of 1s$\sigma_g$ rovibrational states obtained here agree with available existing accurate \textit{ab initio} results. It is shown that the Stark effect due to BBR is dynamic and cannot be treated quasi-statically, as is often done in the case of atomic ions. Furthermore it is pointed out that the dynamic Stark shifts have tensorial character and depend strongly on the polarization state of the electric field. Numerical results of BBR-induced Stark shifts are presented, showing that Lamb-Dicke spectroscopy of narrow vibrational optical lines ($\sim 10$ Hz natural linewidth) in HD$^+$ will become affected by BBR shifts only at the $10^{-16}$ level

All-Optical Broadband Excitation of the Motional State of Trapped Ions

We have developed a novel all-optical broadband scheme for exciting, amplifying and measuring the secular motion of ions in a radio frequency trap. Oscillation induced by optical excitation has been coherently amplified to precisely control and measure the ion's secular motion. Requiring only laser line-of-sight, we have shown that the ion's oscillation amplitude can be precisely controlled. Our excitation scheme can generate coherent motion which is robust against variations in the secular frequency. Therefore, our scheme is ideal to excite the desired level of oscillatory motion under conditions where the secular frequency is evolving in time. Measuring the oscillation amplitude through Doppler velocimetry, we have characterized the experimental parameters and compared them with a molecular dynamics simulation which provides a complete description of the system.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure

Suitability of linear quadrupole ion traps for large Coulomb crystals

Growing and studying large Coulomb crystals, composed of tens to hundreds of thousands of ions, in linear quadrupole ion traps presents new challenges for trap implementation. We consider several trap designs, first comparing the total driven micromotion amplitude as a function of location within the trapping volume; total micromotion is an important point of comparison since it can limit crystal size by transfer of radiofrequency drive energy into thermal energy. We also compare the axial component of micromotion, which leads to first-order Doppler shifts along the preferred spectroscopy axis in precision measurements on large Coulomb crystals. Finally, we compare trapping potential anharmonicity, which can induce nonlinear resonance heating by shifting normal mode frequencies onto resonance as a crystal grows. We apply a non-deforming crystal approximation for simple calculation of these anharmonicity-induced shifts, allowing a straightforward estimation of when crystal growth can lead to excitation of different nonlinear heating resonances. In the axial micromotion and anharmonicity points of comparison, we find significant differences between the compared trap designs, with an original rotated-endcap trap performing slightly better than the conventional in-line endcap trap