(Johannes Gütenberg-Universität Mainz & PostDoc at UCLA)

In order to study interactions of atomic ions with ultracold neutral atoms, it is important to have sub-µm control over positioning ion crystals. We introduced a microfabricated planar ion trap which can simultaneously trap single Yb+ ions and 87Rb atoms in mirror-magneto optical trap (mMOT). To assure stable positioning of ion crystals with respect to trapped neutral atoms, we integrated into the overall design a chip-based Ioffe-Pritchard trap potential formed by a Z-shaped wire and an external bias magnetic field. The potential applications of our system would be detecting the magnetic field gradient produced by the magnetic dipole moment of a few atoms by using ions in an entangled state. It also features close analogies to natural solid-state systems, as the atomic degrees of freedom couple to phonons of the ion lattice, thereby emulating a solid-state system.