Minimization of micromotion for nanoparticles in a Paul trap

Abstract

When a charged particle in a Paul trap is displaced from the node of the AC trapping field, excess micromotion arises as an undesired effect. Excess micromotion heats the particle, limits the precision with which the particle can be localised, and acts as a decoherence channel in quantum mechanical experiments. However, thus far there is no standard procedure for micromotion compensation with mesoscopic particles. Here, we experimentally demonstrate three different methods for minimizing the micromotion of a nanoparticle in a linear Paul trap along three axes. The most precise method allows us to nullify the stray field to within 2.9 V/m, which is comparable to reported values in trapped-ion experiments.