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Duffing Oscillator Dynamics in Paul traps

Conference Paper · October 2013

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 Duffing Oscillator Dynamics in Paul Traps
An Exploration of Routes to Chaos
Bogdan Mihalcea1, Mihai Ganciu 1 & Aurelian Isar2
1
Natl. Inst. for Laser, Plasma and Rad. Phys. (INFLPR), Plasma Physics Dept., Atomiştilor Str. Nr. 409, 077125 Măgurele, Romania
2
Horia Hulubei Natl. Inst. of Phys. and Nucl. Eng. (IFIN-HH), Dept. of Theoretical Phys., Reactorului Str. Nr. 30, 077125, Măgurele, Romania

bogdan.mihalcea@infim.ro, ganciu@infim.ro, isar@theory.nipne.ro; http://aptfs.inflpr.ro

Introduction
The advent of ion traps has made possible to perform fundamental tests on quantum mechanics and
Einsteinian gravity, as well as studies of quantum information processing (QIP) and quantum de-
coherence [1, 2]. A single ion confined in a Paul trap may be used to test a variety of important
physical models or perform studies on quantum chaos and integrability for dynamical systems. The
Hill equation which describes the motion of laser cooled particles in a microscale or nanoscale non-
linear Paul trap can be easily expressed as the damped, forced Duffing-Mathieu (or Duffing-Ueda)
oscillator equation.
where τ = Ωt/2, α = 2k 2Ω0 cos θ/M Ω2, c = cos 2ϕ, d = sin 2ϕ. For a symmetrical trap c = 1 and
d = 0. Then γ and ζ represent the damping and the anharmonicity coefficient respectively, while
the adimensional parameters are expressed as a = 8QU0/M Ω2r02 and q = 4QV0/M Ω2r02d. r0 is the
radial distance from the trap axis to the quadrupole electrodes, while Ω stands for the micromotion
frequency, U0 and V0 are the D.C. and radiofrequency (RF) trapping voltages, ϕ is the angle between
them, while Ω0 is the Rabi frequency for the ion-laser interaction and cos θ is the expectation value
of the x projection spin operator for the two level system with respect to a Bloch coherent state. The
expression Γ cos ω0t stands for the harmonic driving force.

Duffing-Mathieu oscillator
Duffing-Mathieu oscillator characteristic features
1. Classical paradigm for illustrating nonlinear dynamics of dissipative systems, jump phe-
nomenon and parametric resonance hysterezis [3]
2. Building block for more complex dynamical systems [4]

Synchronization of coupled chaotic systems. Novel communication schemes and

encryption mechanisms
Numerical simulations have been used lately to investigate the synchronization behaviour of Duffing
oscillators and gather new evidence about the routes to chaos, in case of:
1. Unidirectionally coupled pair of double-well Duffing oscillators
Figure 2: Poincare map and bifurcation diagrams for parametric oscillator
2. Complex Duffing oscillator systems, which result by coupling several oscillators (thus increas-
ing the number of degrees of freedom) [5]
Chaos emerges both for symmetrically and asymmetrically coupled Duffing oscillators

Synchronization of two coupled chaotic systems suggested two decades ago by Pecora [6]. Signals
generated by chaotic systems can be used as carriers for analog and digital communications ⇒
Novel chaotic secure communication schemes and encryption mechanisms [7].
Mechanism based on coding the message signal into two values that modulate the frequency of the
sinusoidal term of a kicked Duffing oscillator on one end, and on a Lyapunov based observer at the
other end responsible for rebuilding the original message signal [7]. Further study of ions (Duffing-
Mathieu oscillators) confined in nonlinear Paul traps is expected to
1. Yield new evidence on quantum chaos and quantum decoherence phenomena, in order to Figure 3: Lyapunov exponents for the Duffing equation with initial conditions (0,0,0) and (1,0,0)
achieve QIP [2]
2. Develop novel encryption mechanisms and highly secure communication schemes
Conclusions
Two Duffing oscillators in a Paul trap • Phase portraits, Poincaré sections, bifurcation diagrams and Lyapunov exponents illustrate chaotic
and regular motion, the occurrence of strange attractors and fractal basin boundaries. For suffi-
Quantum engineering opens new horizons towards further investigation of systems of trapped and ciently small perturbation values, according to the KAM theory, we find invariant closed curves
laser cooled ions (either mesoscopic or not), and gather new evidence on the border between classical • Limit cycles exist, in agreement with the Poincaré-Bendixon theorem and the Dulac and Bendixon
and semiclassical behaviour for the characterization of quantum chaos, while also allowing controlled criteria
investigation on quantum metrology measurements and quantum decoherence [1, 2]. Ion motion in
miniaturized Paul traps is considered to be harmonic, hence the ion is treated as a semiclassical or • The results obtained here can be further applied for clusters of trapped particles to be used as tar-
quantum harmonic oscillator. Duffing nonlinear dynamics has been predicted for ion motion [8, 9], gets in very high power laser experiments, such as the CETAL facility (operational in 2014) or the
while most recent experiments confirm it [10]. Quadratic and cubic nonlinearities have been con- ELI-NP infrastructure (now in commissioning phase), both located at Magurele, in Romania.
firmed in the Duffing-Mathieu equation which describes ion dynamics in an asymmetrical surface-
electrode ion trap (SET). A mandatory condition to achieve QIP in ion traps consists in minimizing
nolinear fields and quantum decoherence effects [2, 9]. Axial-radial coupling was recently reported Acknowledgements
in case of frequency resonance [10].
The authors acknowledge support by the Romanian Ministery of National Education (MEN-CDI),
contract PN09.39.03.01 and Ideas Project PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0958, Contract 90/201190 (2011)

Figure 1: Parameter values γ = 0.1, ζ = 0.25, α = 0.1, ω0 = 2, Γ = 47 and Γ = 24
We examine the case of an ion confined in a nonlinear Paul trap. We treat the ion as a two degree
of freedom damped system with cubic nonlinearity and single frequency excitation. Depending on
the trap geometry (either symmetrical or asymmetrical), the equations of motion can be coupled, or
uncoupled. The system of equations describing radial motion in an asymmetrical trap with a cubic
nonlinear term, for a particle of electrical charge Q and mass M , which undergoes interaction with a
laser field, in presence of viscous damping and external parametric excitation [8, 9], can be expressed
as
ẍ + γ ẋ + ax − 2q (cx + dy) cos 2τ − ζx3 + α sin x = Γ cos ω0t
ÿ + γ ẏ + ay − 2q (dx − cy) cos 2τ − ζy 3 = 0 . (1)
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