Rapid all-optical loading of trapped ions using a miniaturised atom source

TL;DR

This paper presents a compact, optically-heated atom source enabling rapid ion loading in traps, with detailed thermal modeling and potential for use with various metals, advancing ion trapping technology.

Contribution

It introduces a miniaturized, efficient atom source for ion trapping, demonstrating high loading rates and thermal performance analysis, surpassing previous methods.

Findings

Loading rates up to 24 s^{-1} with low power

Single ion loading in under 30 seconds

Thermal performance limited mainly by radiative losses

Abstract

We characterise an efficient optically-heated neutral atom source for ion trapping. We observe loading rates of up to $24(3)\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$ with heating powers below $85\,\mathrm{mW}$, and demonstrate loading of a single ion in under $30\,\mathrm{s}$ with $41.4(4)\,\mathrm{mW}$ of optical power in a room-temperature ion trap system with an ionisation probability of $1.50(5)\times10^{-5}$. We calibrate a thermal model for the source's internal temperature by imaging the fluorescence of a collimated flux of neutral calcium that effuses from the oven at various optical heating powers. We show that the thermal performance of this oven is mainly limited by radiative losses. We explore the effect of second-stage photo-ionisation laser power on the loading rate, and identify a path beyond the loading rates reported in this study. We predict that this source is also well-suited to a wide range of metals used in ion-trapping.