Fluorescence detection of a trapped ion with a monolithically integrated single-photon-counting avalanche diode

Abstract

We report on the demonstration of fluorescence detection from a trapped ion using single-photon avalanche photodiodes (SPADs) monolithically integrated with a microfabricated surface ion trap. The SPADs are located below the trapping positions of the ions and designed to detect 370 nm photons emitted from single 174Yb+ and 171Yb+ ions. We achieve an ion/no-ion detection fidelity for 174Yb+ of 0.99 with an average detection window of 7.7(1) ms. We report a dark count rate as low as 1.2 kcps for room temperature operation. The fidelity is limited by laser scatter, dark counts, and heating that prevents holding the ion directly above the SPAD. We measure count rates from each of the contributing sources and fluorescence as a function of ion position. We use the ion as a calibrated light source along with measurements of the active detector area to estimate a SPAD quantum efficiency of 24 ± 1%.