The client's brief was to supply optical elements for laser excitation of ions in a linear trap. Specifically, this included wave plates, polarizing and non-polarizing beam splitters, fiber collimators and mirrors. The optical components had to be optimized for wavelengths corresponding to the individual transitions of 138Ba+and 40Ca+ions.
Components
- Half-wave plates for 397 nm, 493 nm, 650 nm, 729 nm, 854 nm and 866 nm
- Four-wavelength plates for 729 nm, 854 nm and 866 nm
- Polarization beam splitters (p-polarization transmittance > 90%, s-polarization reflectivity at splitting interface > 99%, surface quality: 40-20 S-D)
- Non-polarising beam splitters (surface quality: 40-20 S-D, deviation from flatness: λ/4 PV)
- Circular 1" mirrors (reflectance > 99% at 45° angle of incidence for s-polarised and p-polarised light at given wavelengths, optical surface quality: 10-5 S-D)
