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Abstract

We present a fluorescence-detection system for laser-cooled ⁹Be⁺ ions based on silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) operated at 4 K and integrated into our cryogenic 1.9 T multi-Penning-trap system. Our approach enables fluorescence detection in a hermetically sealed cryogenic Penning-trap chamber with limited optical access, where state-of-the-art detection using a telescope and photomultipliers at room temperature would be extremely difficult. We characterize the properties of the SiPM in a cryocooler at 4 K, where we measure a dark count rate below 1 s⁻¹ and a detection efficiency of 2.5(3)%. We further discuss the design of our cryogenic fluorescence-detection trap and analyze the performance of our detection system by fluorescence spectroscopy of ⁹Be⁺ ion clouds during several runs of our sympathetic laser-cooling experiment.