title: Suppression of ion transport due to long-lived subwavelength localization by an optical lattice.
abstract: We report the localization of an ion by a one-dimensional optical lattice in the presence of an applied external force. The ion is confined radially by a radio frequency trap and axially by a combined electrostatic and optical-lattice potential. Using a resolved Raman sideband technique, one or several ions are cooled to a mean vibrational number <n>=(0.1±0.1) along the optical lattice. We measure the average position of a periodically driven ion with a resolution down to λ/40, and demonstrate localization to a single lattice site for up to 10 ms. This opens new possibilities for studying many-body systems with long-range interactions in periodic potentials, as well as fundamental models of friction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Leon
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Karpa
authors.forename: Alexei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bylinskii
authors.forename: Dorian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gangloff
authors.forename: Marko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cetina
authors.forename: Vladan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vuletić