Abstract
Paul traps are widely used to confine electrically charged particles like atomic and molecular ions by using an intense radiofrequency (RF) field, typically obtained by a voltage drop on capacitative electrodes placed in vacuum. We present a RF drive realized on a compact printed circuit board and providing a high-voltage RF signal to a quadrupole Paul trap. The circuit is formed by using four interdependent resonant circuits - each of which is connected to an electrode of a Paul trap - fed by low-noise amplifiers, leading to an output voltage of peak-to-peak amplitude up to 200 V at 3.23 MHz. The presence of a single resonant circuit for each electrode ensures a strong control on the voltage drop on each electrode, e.g., by applying a DC field through a bias tee. Additionally, the moderate quality factor Q = 67 of the resonant circuits ensures a fast operation of the drive, which can be turned on and off in less than 10 μs. Finally, the RF lines are equipped with pickups that sample the RF in phase and amplitude, thus providing a signal that can be used to actively control the voltage drop at the trap's electrodes.
Highlights
Paul traps are widely used to confine electrically charged particles like atomic and molecular ions by using an intense radiofrequency (RF) field, typically obtained by a voltage drop on capacitative electrodes placed in vacuum
We presented a compact RF drive for ion traps built on a printed circuit board (PCB) and composed of four interdependent resonant RLC circuits which are capable to work in iso-frequency, iso-amplitude and proper phase relation
A high voltage output is realized by using a low-noise amplifier and the enhancement factor of the resonant RLC circuits
Summary
The RF drive is formed by four resonant circuits — one per electrode of a Paul trap — that amplify and filter the RF signal. The resonant circuits are interconnected in the RF drive in order to enforce a common resonating frequency. We provide a detailed description of the characteristics of each resonant circuit, and of how they are combined in the RF board
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