A new optical system is introduced for the imaging of Coulomb crystals held in a cryogenic ion trap where there are space limitations preventing the placement of an objective close to the fluorescing ions. The optical system features an off-axis parabolic (OAP) mirror relay microscope that will serve to acquire images of a lattice of fluorescing ions confined within an ultra-high-vacuum vessel operating at temperatures below 10 K. We report that the OAP mirror relay setup can resolve features smaller than the separation between neighboring ions in Coulomb crystals. The setup presented here consists of two 90-degree OAP mirrors arranged into a relay from which standard microscope optics deliver the image to a camera. This design allows the first element in the imaging setup-an OAP mirror-to be located as close as possible to the ion trap, achieving high resolution without the need for a direct line-of-sight to the trap center or for a view port to be located in close proximity to the ion trap. Such an arrangement would not be possible with a standard microscope objective, which is the approach commonly adopted by the field. OAP mirrors represent a novel solution for delivering polychromatic images with micrometer-scale resolution over extended distances.

中文翻译：

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用于超冷物质实验的离轴抛物面镜中继显微镜

引入了一种新的光学系统，用于对保存在低温离子阱中的库仑晶体进行成像，其中存在空间限制，无法将物镜放置在靠近荧光离子的位置。该光学系统具有离轴抛物面 (OAP) 镜面中继显微镜，可用于获取限制在超高真空容器内的荧光离子晶格图像，该容器在低于 10 K 的温度下运行。我们报告说 OAP 镜面中继设置可以解决比库仑晶体中相邻离子之间的间隔更小的特征。此处介绍的设置由两个 90 度 OAP 反射镜组成，这些反射镜排列在一个中继器中，标准显微镜光学元件从中继器将图像传送到相机。这种设计允许成像装置中的第一个元件——OAP 反射镜——尽可能靠近离子阱，实现高分辨率，而无需直视离子阱中心或靠近离子阱的视口。这种布置对于标准显微镜物镜是不可能的，这是该领域普遍采用的方法。OAP 反射镜代表了一种新颖的解决方案，用于在扩展距离上提供具有微米级分辨率的多色图像。