English

Second-Scale $^9\text{Be}^+$ Spin Coherence in a Compact Penning Trap

Atomic Physics 2022-01-11 v1 Quantum Physics

Abstract

We report microwave spectroscopy of co-trapped 9Be+^9\text{Be}^+ and 40Ca+^{40}\text{Ca}^+ within a compact permanent-magnet-based Penning ion trap. The trap is constructed with a reconfigurable array of NdFeB rings providing a 0.654 T magnetic field that is near the 0.6774-T magnetic-field-insensitive hyperfine transition in 9Be+^9\text{Be}^+. Performing Ramsey spectroscopy on this hyperfine transition, we demonstrate nuclear spin coherence with a contrast decay time of >1 s. The 9Be+^9\text{Be}^+ is sympathetically cooled by a Coulomb crystal of 40Ca+^{40}\text{Ca}^+, which minimizes 9Be+^9\text{Be}^+ illumination and thus mitigates reactive loss. Introducing a unique high-magnetic-field optical detection scheme for 40Ca+^{40}\text{Ca}^+, we perform spin state readout without a 729~nm shelving laser. We record a fractional trap magnetic field instability below 20 ppb (<13 nT) at 43 s of averaging time with no magnetic shielding and only passive thermal isolation. We discuss potential applications of this compact, reconfigurable Penning trap.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2110.03053,
  title  = {Second-Scale $^9\text{Be}^+$ Spin Coherence in a Compact Penning Trap},
  author = {Brian J. McMahon and Brian C. Sawyer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.03053},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

6 pages, 4 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-24T06:41:06.250Z