A planar ion trap chip with integrated structures for an adjustable magnetic field gradient

We present the design, fabrication, and characterization of a segmented surface ion trap with integrated current carrying structures. The latter produce a spatially varying magnetic field necessary for magnetic gradient induced coupling between ionic effective spins. We demonstrate trapping of strings of 172Yb+ ions, characterize the performance of the trap and map magnetic fields by radio frequency-optical double resonance spectroscopy. In addition, we apply and characterize the magnetic gradient and demonstrate individual addressing in a string of three ions using RF radiation.