Laser ablation production of Ba, Ca, Dy, Er, La, Lu, and Yb ions

TL;DR

This study explores laser ablation using a pulsed nitrogen laser to produce various atomic ions, analyzing ion yields for different elements and conditions relevant to cold ion trapping applications.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed investigation of ion production efficiency for multiple elements via laser ablation, including recent candidates for cold ion experiments.

Findings

Ion yield varies with ablation pulse number and substrate.

Ion production efficiency depends on pulse energy.

Loading efficiency of ion traps is influenced by RF voltage.

Abstract

We use a pulsed nitrogen laser to produce atomic ions by laser ablation, measuring the relative ion yield for several elements, including some that have only recently been proposed for use in cold trapped ion experiments. For barium, we monitor the ion yield as a function of the number of applied ablation pulses for different substrates. We also investigate the ion production as a function of the pulse energy, and the efficiency of loading an ion trap as a function of radiofrequency voltage.