title: Motional heating in a graphene-coated ion trap.
abstract: Electric field noise originating from metal surfaces is a hindrance for a variety of microengineered systems, including for ions in microtraps, but is not well understood at the microscopic level. For trapped ions, it is manifested as motional-state decoherence inexplicable by thermal noise of electrodes alone, but likely surface-dependent. Here, we investigate the role of surface properties in motional heating by creating an ion trap with a unique exterior. Using single trapped-ion probes, we characterize copper electrodes covered in monolayer graphene, a material free of surface charge and dangling bonds. Surprisingly, we measure an average heating rate of 1020 ± 30 quanta/s, which is ∼100 times higher than typical for an uncoated trap operated under similar conditions. This may be related to hydrocarbon deposits on the surface, which could be monitored on graphene to potentially elucidate the mechanisms of motional heating on the atomic scale.
authors.affiliation: Center for Ultracold Atoms and Research Laboratory of Electronics, ‡Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and §Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States.
authors.forename: Amira M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Eltony
authors.forename: Hyesung G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Shannon X
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Isaac L
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Chuang
keywords: Graphene; hydrocarbon adsorbates; ion trap; motional heating; quantum information processing; surface science