Towards Trapped-Ion Thermometry Using Cavity-Based EIT

Abstract

We present a technique for measuring ion temperature using cavity-based electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) applicable for cavity QED systems. This method enables efficient extraction of the ion's phonon occupation number following sub-Doppler cooling close to the motional ground state. The proposed method requires operation in the resolved-sideband regime, where individual motional states can be selectively addressed for all relevant transitions either by selecting appropriate energy levels for the three-level system or by employing strong confinement with high secular frequencies ($\sim 10 MHz$). It relies on monitoring the cavity probe transmission while scanning the probe laser frequency to establish cavity-induced EIT using a control beam, thereby significantly simplifying the measurement procedure. We establish a theoretical model that demonstrates the influence of the thermal state of the trapped ion vis-\`a-vis the EIT linewidth measured. We show through numerical simulations how the cavity-induced EIT transmission may be used as a thermometry tool to deduce the ion temperature as well as its motional state in the sub-Doppler cooling regime, even for systems that are in the weak coupling regime.