Photoionisation loading of large Sr+ ion clouds with ultrafast pulses

Sébastien Removille (1) , Romain Dubessy (1) , Quentin Glorieux (1) , Samuel Guibal (1) , Thomas Coudreau (1) , Luca Guidoni (1) , Jean-Pierre Likforman (1)

1 MPQ (UMR_7162) - Laboratoire Matériaux et Phénomènes Quantiques

This paper reports on photoionisation loading of Sr+ ions in a linear Paul trap based on ultrafast pulses. We benefit from an autoionising resonance of strontium to photoionise the neutral atoms using two-photon absorption of femtosecond pulses at 431 nm. We compare this technique to electron-bombardment and demonstrate clear advantages of using photoionisation. It actually allows the loading of a pure Sr+ ions and the use of lower radio-frequency voltage amplitudes for the trapping. In these conditions, and in the absence of fine minimization of the micro-motion responsible of rf heating, up to 410^4 cooled Sr+ ions could be trapped.

Mots clés: ion trap; quantum information; photoionisation

Domaines: Physique Quantique [quant-ph]

Sébastien Removille, Romain Dubessy, Quentin Glorieux, Samuel Guibal, Thomas Coudreau, et al.. Photoionisation loading of large Sr+ ion clouds with ultrafast pulses. 2008. ⟨hal-00340119v1⟩