Trapping Yb+ ions in a segmented surface trap with integrated magnetic field gradient

A promising approach for realizing complex ion trap-structures and -arrays are planar ion traps where all electrodes and current carrying elements are arranged in a quasi-2-dimensional structure. We demonstrate trapping of ¹⁷²Yb⁺ ions in a surface ion trap in ultra high vacuum at 5.10^-11 mbar. Long storage times of several hours are achieved. We characterize the trap in terms of its secular frequencies and demonstrate deterministic transport of ions above the plane. A 60 μm thin glass plate is mounted at 2.5 mm above and parallel to the trap surface. It is coated with a 100 nm thin indium tin oxide layer allowing for the application of a static electric potential. This serves to protect the trapped ion from stray fields possibly induced by particles at the chip surface and the detection viewport, to change the trapping height of the ion and increase the trap depth by applying a suitable voltage. The ITO layer transmits 68% of resonance fluorescence light near 369 nm. We present briefly the production process using different lithography and electroplating steps. The trap design includes current carrying electrodes to produce magnetic field gradients with different tuneable shapes at the ion position. The magnetic field gradients will permit addressing of ions in the frequency domain and allows to couple internal and external motion with an effective Lamb-Dicke parameter.