Title: Optimised surface-electrode ion-trap junctions for experiments with cold molecular ions,
Abstract: We discuss the design and optimisation of two types of junctions between
surface-electrode radiofrequency ion-trap arrays that enable the integration of
experiments with sympathetically cooled molecular ions on a monolithic chip
device. A detailed description of a multi-objective optimisation procedure
applicable to an arbitrary planar junction is presented, and the results for a
cross junction between four quadrupoles as well as a quadrupole-to-octupole
junction are discussed. Based on these optimised functional elements, we
propose a multi-functional ion-trap chip for experiments with translationally
cold molecular ions at temperatures in the millikelvin range. This study opens
the door to extending complex chip-based trapping techniques to
Coulomb-crystallised molecular ions with potential applications in mass
spectrometry, spectroscopy, controlled chemistry and quantum technology.