We study the classical dynamics of a Paul-trapped ion in a low-density bath of atoms above $1\mu \mathrm{K}$. We find that lower-energy collisions with more massive atoms, especially at energies less than the initial micromotion heating, are more likely to form atom-ion complexes. These complexes evolve in a fractal structure for every scattering observable, showing nonhyperbolic chaotic dynamics. To explore the chaotic dynamics, we use a GPU-accelerated methodology allowing us to run over $3\times {10}^8$ trajectories of a ${}^{174}\mathrm{Yb}^{+}$ and different atoms. As a result, after analyzing the dynamics as a function of the atom species, collision energy, trap parameters, and ion-atom potential depth, we find a link between heating and the onset of chaos in the first atom-ion interaction that occurs when a low-density atomic bath is merged with a trapped ion.

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• Atom & ion trapping & guiding
• Chaos
• Long-range interactions
• Scattering of atoms, molecules, clusters & ions
• Ultracold collisions
• High-throughput calculations
• Molecular dynamics