A Single-Ion Trap with Minimized Ion-Environment Interactions

We present a new single-ion endcap trap for high-precision spectroscopy that has been designed to minimize ion–environment interactions. We describe the design in detail and then characterize the working trap using a single trapped \(^{171}{\rm Yb}^{+}\) ion. Excess micromotion has been eliminated to the resolution of the detection method, and the trap exhibits an anomalous phonon heating rate of \(d\langle n\rangle /{\mathrm{d}}t = 24 ^{+30}_{-24}\,{\rm s}^{-1}\). The thermal properties of the trap structure have also been measured with an effective temperature rise at the ion’s position of \({\Delta }T_{\mathrm{(ion)}} = 0.14 \pm 0.14\,{\rm K}\). The small perturbations to the ion caused by this trap make it suitable to be used for an optical frequency standard with fractional uncertainties below the \(10^{-18}\) level.