Optimized strategies for the quantum-state preparation of single trapped nitrogen molecular ions
Abstract
This work examines optimized strategies for the preparation of single molecular ions in well-defined rotational quantum states in an ion trap with the example of the molecular nitrogen ion N2+. It advances a two-step approach consisting of an initial threshold-photoionization stage which produces molecular ions with a high probability in the target state, followed by a measurement-based state purification of the sample. For this purpose, a resonance-enhanced threshold photoionization scheme for producing N2+ in its rovibrational ground state proposed by Gardner et al. [Sci. Rep. 9, 506 (2019)] was characterized. The molecular state was measured using a recently developed quantum-non-demolition state-detection method finding a total fidelity of 38(7)% for producing ground-state N2+ under the present experimental conditions. By discarding ions from the trap not found to be in the target state, essentially state-pure samples of single N2+ ions can be generated for subsequent state-specific experiments.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2309.03035,
title = {Optimized strategies for the quantum-state preparation of single trapped nitrogen molecular ions},
author = {Aleksandr Shlykov and Mikolaj Roguski and Stefan Willitsch},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.03035},
year = {2023}
}