Mainz 2026 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 27: Poster – Precision Spectroscopy of Atoms and Ions (joint session A/Q)

Q 27.11: Poster

Tuesday, March 3, 2026, 17:00–19:00, Philo 1. OG

Heating rate measurements by time-resolved detection of single-phonon excitations — •Sylvain Noël^1,2, Till Rehmert^1,2, Gabriele Gatta^1,3,4, Maximilian J. Zawierucha^1,2, Piet O. Schmidt^1,2, and Fabian Wolf¹ — ¹Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany — ²Institut für Quantenoptik, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover — ³European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS), Via Nello Carrara 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino — ⁴University of Florence, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Via Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

Trapped ions are a well-established platform in quantum science, with applications ranging from quantum computing to high-precision spectroscopy for metrology and as a probe for new physics. These applications rely on long coherence times for coherent manipulation, making it essential to understand and quantify decoherence processes in order to mitigate them. In particular, heating of the trapped ions is one limiting effect for coherence times. Here, we present a new measurement scheme to quantify the motional heating in a Paul trap. The method relies on the time-resolved detection of single-phonon excitations, which allows us to extract the heating rate in the trap. We demonstrate that the method is consistent with the well-known technique based on comparing the red and blue sideband excitations. In addition, the presented method offers a new perspective for the investigation of different heating mechanisms by distinguishing coherent and incoherent motional excitation of the ion.

Keywords: Heating rate; Trapped ions; Coherent heating