Trapped ion spectroscopy using tweezers and an ultracold buffer gas

Colloquium by Rene Gerritsma (University van Amsterdam, Niederlande) at PTB Braunschweig, Vieweg- Bau, Room 133, 38116 Braunschweig

Optical tweezers offer new opportunities to control and manipulate trapped ions with applications in quantum information processing, metrology and precision spectroscopy [1-3]. I will highlight our experimental progress towards implementing this system in the lab with emphasis on optimizing tweezer delivery and eliminating aberrations by using a single ion as a probe [4]. The ion of choice is Yb+, which possesses a complex level structure owing to large configuration interactions and spin-orbit coupling. We identify several optical transitions and metastable states that were not studied in single ions before and examine their use in laser cooling, quantum information, precision spectroscopy and atomic clocks [5,6]. Finally, we use an ultracold atomic buffer gas to perform spectroscopy on ions that may not be directly laser cooled. The buffer gas is used both for hyperfine structure-resolved state preparation and detection in the isotopes 171Yb+ and 173Yb+ to demonstrate the principle. I will discuss how the scheme may be extended to more complex ions [7].

[1] J. D. Arias Espinoza et al., Phys. Rev. A 104, 013302 (2021).
[2] M. Mazzanti et al., Phys. Rev. Research 5, 033036 (2023).
[3] L.P.H. Gallagher et al., arXiv:2502.19345 (2025).
[4] M. Mazzanti et al., Phys. Rev. A 110, 043105 (2024).
[5] N. Diepeveen et al., Phys. Rev. A 110, 042809 (2024).
[6] Z.E.D. Ackerman et al., in prep.
[7] E. Kovlakov et al., in prep.

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