Energy band structure of two ions in a one-dimensional Paul trap

Abstract

Making use of the well-known truncated-series method, we give a numerical program to calculate the exact solutions of two Coulomb-correlated ions confined in a linear Paul trap. The discrete motion state functions and energy spectra are obtained for the trap frequencies approaching the experimentally realizable limiting values, which correspond to a denumerable infinite point-set of the frequencies. Continuously varying the trap frequency between two neighboring points of the denumerable infinite set, from the quantum perturbation technique we find the energy-band structure based on the exact discrete spectra in which the bands are narrower and the gaps wider. The band structure can influence the laser cooling of Paul trapped ions and the quantum logic operation based on the system that should be considered in the corresponding experiments thereby.