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Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Experimental Methods for Trapping Ions Using Microfabricated Surface Ion Traps
Published on: August 17, 2017
3D Sisyphus Cooling of Trapped Ions
1Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada.
Abstract:
Using a laser polarization gradient, we realize 3D Sisyphus cooling of ^{171}Yb^{+} ions confined in and near the Lamb-Dicke regime in a linear Paul trap. The cooling rate and final mean motional energy of a single ion are characterized as a function of laser intensity and compared to semiclassical and quantum simulations. Sisyphus cooling is also applied to a linear string of four ions to obtain a mean energy of 1-3 quanta for all vibrational modes, an approximately order of magnitude reduction below Doppler cooled energies. This is used to enable subsequent, efficient sideband laser cooling.
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