Ion gun and methods for surface treatment

An ion trap comprising an ion gun incorporated therein, said ion gun comprising:

• a confinement vessel defining a chamber therein;
• a plasma source configured to provide ions in said chamber;
• and
• at least one acceleration and focusing electrode disposed within said chamber and positioned to receive ions from said plasma source, and to accelerate and focus said ions received to be delivered to an underlying surface,
• wherein said at least one acceleration and focusing electrode is structured to provide an aperture therethrough to provide optical access to a high numerical aperture optical device.

An ion gun assembly, comprising:

• an ion gun;
• and
• a high numerical aperture optical device,
• wherein the ion gun, comprises:
• a confinement vessel defining a chamber therein;
• a plasma source configured to provide ions in said chamber;
• and
• at least one acceleration and focusing electrode disposed within said chamber and positioned to receive ions from said plasma source and accelerate and focus said ions received to be delivered to an underlying surface,
• wherein said at least one acceleration and focusing electrode is structured to provide an aperture therethrough to provide optical access to the high numerical aperture optical device.

A method of treating a surface of an ion trap during use, comprising:

• providing an ion gun incorporated into said ion trap said ion gun comprising:
• a confinement vessel defining a chamber therein;
• a plasma source configured to provide ions in said chamber;
• and
• at least one acceleration and focusing electrode disposed within said chamber and positioned to receive ions from said plasma source, and to accelerate and focus said ions received to be delivered to an underlying surface,
• wherein said at least one acceleration and focusing electrode is structured to provide an aperture therethrough to provide optical access to a high numerical aperture optical device;
• and
• using said ion gun to treat an inner surface region of said ion trap at a plurality of different times while said ion gun remains incorporated into said ion trap.