Efficient and robust photo-ionization loading of beryllium ions

Abstract

We demonstrate the efficient generation of Be${}^{+}$ ions with a 60 ns and 150 nJ laser pulse near 235 nm for two-step photo-ionization, proven by subsequent counting the number of ions loaded into a linear Paul trap. The bandwidth and power of the laser pulse are chosen in such a way that a first, resonant step fully saturates the entire velocity distribution of beryllium atoms effusing from a thermal oven. The second excitation step is driven by the same light field causing efficient non-resonant ionization. Our ion-loading scheme is more than 15 times more efficient as compared to former pathways using two-photon continuous wave laser excitation.

6 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (5)

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• Rapid production of defect-free beryllium ion Coulomb crystals