Resolved-sideband cooling of a single $^9$Be$^+$ ion in a Penning trap

Abstract

Manipulating individual trapped ions at the single quantum level has become standard practice in radio-frequency ion traps, enabling applications from quantum information processing to precision metrology. The key ingredient is ground-state cooling of the particle's motion through resolved-sideband laser cooling. Ultra-high-presicion experiments using Penning ion traps will greatly benefit from the reduction of systematic errors offered by full motional control, with applications to atomic masses and $g$-factor measurements, determinations of fundamental constants or related tests of fundamental physics. In addition, it will allow to implement quantum logic spectroscopy, a technique that has enabled a new class of precision measurements in radio-frequency ion traps. Here we demonstrate resolved-sideband laser cooling of the axial motion of a single $^9$Be$^+$ ion in a cryogenic 5 Tesla Penning trap system using a two-photon stimulated-Raman process, reaching a mean phonon number of $\bar{n}_z = 0.10(4)$. This is a fundamental step in the implementation of quantum logic spectroscopy for matter-antimatter comparison tests in the baryonic sector of the Standard Model and a key step towards improved precision experiments in Penning traps operating at the quantum limit.