We study the impact of an unshielded dielectric—here, a bare optical fiber—on a ${}^{40}{\mathrm{Ca}}^{+}$ ion held several hundred microns away in a cryogenic surface electrode trap. We observe distance-dependent stray electric fields of up to a few $\mathrm{kV}/\mathrm{m}$ due to the dielectric, which drift on average less than 10% per month and can be fully compensated with reasonable voltages on the trap electrodes. We observe ion motional heating rates attributable to the dielectric of $\approx 30$ quanta per second at an ion-fiber distance of $215(4)\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{m}$ and $\approx 1.5\mathrm{MHz}$ motional frequency. These results demonstrate the viability of using unshielded, trap-integrated dielectric objects such as miniature optical cavities or other optical elements in cryogenic surface electrode ion traps.

Close

PrevNext

View figure in article

• Electric field effects
• Integrated optics
• Optical microcavities
• Dielectrics
• Trapped ions