Ultracold high precision ion sources

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The research project aims at the realization and characterization of high precision ion sources on the basis of photoionization of ultracold atoms in a magneto-optical trap. Such ion sources benefit from an extremely small transversal energy spread. Currently, the performance is limited by stochastic Coulomb interaction between the ions and spherical aberrations of the ion optics. Moreover, the currently reported designs do not allow for the deterministic operation of the source, i. e. the exact control over the number of created ions. This is of special importance for possible future applications in semiconductor doping.With help of suitable ionization processes and detection schemes, the existing methodology will be extended to overcome these limitations. This achieved by means of the so called Rydberg blockade in dense atomic gases and the experimental trigger of the electric fields of the ion optics on the moment of creation of the ion. In this way, the temporal sequence of the ions in the beam can be influenced and the stochastic Coulomb-interaction can be reduced. Moreover, the individual ion trajectory can be manipulated as well. Eventually, the detection of the ionization event also allows for the deterministic operation of the source.Having a high precision deterministic ion source at hand, new experiments in fundamental research such as ion interferometry as well as new spectroscopic and microscopic studies of solids and surfaces become possible.