Laser ablation loading of a surface-electrode ion trap

We demonstrate loading of ⁸⁸Sr⁺ ions by laser ablation 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 4 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 (≳500 meV).