Kinetics of a single trapped ion in an ultracold buffer gas

The immersion of a single ion confined by a radiofrequency (RF) trap in an ultracold atomic gas extends the concept of buffer gas cooling to a new temperature regime. The steady-state energy distribution of the ion is determined by its kinetics in the RF field rather than the temperature of the buffer gas. Moreover, the finite size of the ultracold gas facilitates the observation of backaction of the ion onto the buffer gas. We numerically investigate the system’s properties depending on atom–ion mass ratio, trap geometry, differential crosssection and non-uniform neutral atom density distribution. Experimental results are well reproduced by our model considering only elastic collisions. We identify excess micromotion to set the typical scale for the ion energy statistics and explore the applicability of the mobility collision cross-section to the ultracold regime. 1 Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed. New Journal of Physics 13 (2011) 05302