Laser ablation loading of a surface-electrode ion trap

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a laser ablation method for loading ions into a surface-electrode trap, eliminating the need for photoionization lasers and enabling ion trapping at lower trap depths.

Contribution

It introduces laser ablation as an effective ion loading technique for surface-electrode traps, characterizing target material performance and achieving loading at lower trap depths.

Findings

Laser ablation successfully loads $^{88}$Sr$^+$ ions into the trap.

Target material efficiency and lifetime are characterized.

Ions are loaded at trap depths below typical electron impact ionization thresholds.

Abstract

We demonstrate loading by laser ablation of $^{88}$Sr$^+$ ions into a mm-scale surface-electrode ion trap. The laser used for ablation is a pulsed, frequency-tripled Nd:YAG with pulse energies of 1-10 mJ and durations of 3-5 ns. An additional laser is not required to photoionize the ablated material. The efficiency and lifetime of several candidate materials for the laser ablation target are characterized by measuring the trapped ion fluorescence signal for a number of consecutive loads. Additionally, laser ablation is used to load traps with a trap depth (40 meV) below where electron impact ionization loading is typically successful ($\gtrsim$ 500 meV).