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Isolating neutral and charged particles from the environment is essential in precision experiments. For decades, this has been achieved by trapping ions with radio-frequency (rf) fields and neutral particles with optical fields. Recently,…
Optical trapping and ions combine unique advantages of independently striving fields of research. Light fields can form versatile potential landscapes, such as optical lattices, for neutral and charged atoms, avoiding detrimental…
Ion-atom interactions are a comparatively recent field of research that has drawn considerable attention due to its applications in areas including quantum chemistry and quantum simulations. In first experiments, atomic ions and neutral…
For several decades, ions have been trapped by radio frequency (RF) and neutral particles by optical fields. We implement the experimental proof-of-principle for trapping an ion in an optical dipole trap. While loading, initialization and…
The subject of this review are atom traps based on optical dipole forces in laser fields, along with their unique features as storage devices at ultralow energies. The basic physics of the dipole interaction is discussed, and the…
The electronic and motional degrees of freedom of trapped ions can be controlled and coherently coupled on the level of individual quanta. Assembling complex quantum systems ion by ion while keeping this unique level of control remains a…
We report the optical trapping of multiple ions localized at individual lattice sites of a one-dimensional optical lattice. We observe a fivefold increase in robustness against axial DC-electric fields and an increase of the axial…
For conventional ion traps, the trapping potential is close to independent of the electronic state, providing confinement for ions dependent primarily on their charge-to-mass ratio $Q/m$. In contrast, storing ions within an optical dipole…
Since the early work by Ashkin in 1970, optical trapping has become one of the most powerful tools for manipulating small particles, such as micron sized beads or single atoms. The optical trapping mechanism is based on the interaction…
Optical dipole-traps are used in various scientific fields, including classical optics, quantum optics and biophysics. Here, we propose and implement a dipole-trap for nanoparticles that is based on focusing from the full solid angle with a…
In the development of atomic, molecular and optical (AMO) physics, atom-ion hybrid systems are characterized by the presence of a new tool in the experimental AMO toolbox: atom-ion interactions. One of the main limitations in…
Ion traps, which were first introduced in the late 1950s and early 1960s, have established themselves as indispensable tools in many areas of physics, chemistry and technology. This chapter gives a brief survey of the operating principles…
We recently reported on a proof-of-principle experiment demonstrating optical trapping of an ion in a single-beam dipole trap superimposed by a static electric potential [Nat. Photonics 4, 772--775 (2010)]. Here, we first discuss the…
Trapped ions boast long coherence times and excellent gate fidelities, making them a useful platform for quantum information processing. Scaling to larger numbers of ion qubits in RF Paul traps demands great effort. Another technique for…
We introduce a measurement scheme that utilizes a single ion as a local field probe. The ion is confined in a segmented Paul trap and shuttled around to reach different probing sites. By the use of a single atom probe, it becomes possible…
We demonstrate the ability to load, cool and detect singly-charged calcium ions in a surface electrode trap using only visible and infrared lasers for the trapped-ion control. As opposed to the standard methods of cooling using…
We propose a novel way to trap and manipulate nano-objects above a dielectric substrate using an apertureless near-field probe. A combination of evanescent illumination and light scattering at the probe apex is used to shape the optical…
Advances in research such as quantum information and quantum chemistry require subtle methods for trapping particles (including ions, neutral atoms, molecules, etc.). Here we propose a hybrid ion trapping method by combining a Paul trap…
Small, controllable, highly accessible quantum systems can serve as probes at the single quantum level to study multiple physical effects, for example in quantum optics or for electric and magnetic field sensing. The applicability of…
A new trap for atoms and small particles based on the interaction between an atom and the field of counter-propagating light pulses that are partially superposed in time has been proposed. A substantial difference from the known analogs…