We present the design and operation of an ytterbium ion trap experiment with a setup offering versatile optical access and 90 electrical interconnects that can host advanced surface and multilayer ion trap chips mounted on chip carriers. We operate a macroscopic ion trap compatible with this chip carrier design and characterize its performance, demonstrating secular frequencies $>$1 MHz, and trap and cool nearly all of the stable isotopes, including ${}^{171}\mathrm{Yb}$${}^{+}$ ions, as well as ion crystals. For this particular trap we measure the motional heating rate $\langle \mathrm{ṅ}\rangle$ and observe an $\langle \mathrm{ṅ}\rangle \propto 1/{\omega }^2$ behavior for different secular frequencies $\omega$. We also determine a spectral noise density $S_E(1\hspace{0.5em}\mathrm{MHz})=3.6(9)\times {10}^{-11}$ ${\mathrm{V}}^2$ ${\mathrm{m}}^{-2}$ Hz${}^{-1}$ at an ion electrode spacing of 310(10) $\mu$m. We describe the experimental setup for trapping and cooling Yb${}^{+}$ ions and provide frequency measurements of the ${}^2{S}_{1/2}{\leftrightarrow }^2$$P_{1/2}$ and ${}^2{D}_{3/2}{\leftrightarrow }^3$$D[3/2]{}_{1/2}$ transitions for the stable ${}^{170}\mathrm{Yb}$${}^{+}$, ${}^{171}\mathrm{Yb}$${}^{+}$, ${}^{172}\mathrm{Yb}$${}^{+}$, ${}^{174}\mathrm{Yb}$${}^{+}$, and ${}^{176}\mathrm{Yb}$${}^{+}$ isotopes which are more precise than previously published work.

• Received 22 July 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.83.013406