Abstract
We present an optical scheme to detect the oscillations of a two-ion string confined in a linear Paul trap. The motion is detected by analyzing the intensity correlations in the fluorescence light emitted by one or two ions in the string. We present measurements performed under continuous Doppler cooling and under pulsed illumination. We foresee several direct applications of this detection method, including motional analysis of multi-ion species or coupled mechanical oscillators and sensing of mechanical correlations.
Highlights
In this Letter, we describe how this method can be extended to the study of the oscillations of a chain of two atomic ions
We present an optical scheme to detect the oscillations of a two-ion string confined in a linear Paul trap
We present the two regimes because they can be suited or combined in a rich variety of applications for the motional analysis
Summary
In this Letter, we describe how this method can be extended to the study of the oscillations of a chain of two atomic ions. The continuous measurement can be used for detecting all the mechanical modes simultaneously in short time, and the pulsed excitation scheme is preferred for applications sensitive to photon recoil, including the phase measurement of coherent oscillation or the population analysis of quantum states near the motional ground state.
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