Heating rate measurement and characterization of a prototype surface-electrode trap for optical frequency metrology

Abstract: We present the characterization of a prototype surface-electrode (SE) trap as a first step towards the realization of a compact, single-ion optical clock based on Yb$^+$. The use of a SE trap will be a key factor to benefit from clean-room fabrication techniques and technological advances made in the field of quantum information processing. We succesfully demonstrated trapping at a 500 $\mu$m electrodes distance and characterized our trap in terms of lifetime and heating rate. This is to our knowledge the highest distance achieved for heating rates measurements in SE traps. This simple 5-wire design realized with simple materials yields a heating rate of $\mathbf{8\times 10^3}$ phonons/s. We provide an analysis of the performances of this prototype trap for optical frequency metrology.