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Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Experimental Methods for Trapping Ions Using Microfabricated Surface Ion Traps
Published on: August 17, 2017
Low power high-performance radio frequency oscillator for driving ion traps
Y-Y Jau1, F M Benito, H Partner
1Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87123, USA. yjau@sandia.gov
Abstract:
We report a simple, efficient, high voltage radio frequency (RF) generator powered by a single voltage source (1.5-7 V) to resonantly drive ion traps or other capacitive loads. Our circuit is able to deliver RF voltages > 500 V(p-p) at frequencies ranging from 0.1 to 10 MHz. This RF oscillator uses low-cost, commercially available components, and can be easily assembled onto a circuit board of a few cm(2). Because of its simplicity and good efficiency, this circuit is useful in applications requiring small size and low power consumption such as portable ion trap systems where the duration of operation under battery power is of concern.
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