Abstract
We present a design for an atomic oven suitable for loading ion traps, which is operated via optical heating with a continuous-wave multimode diode laser. The absence of the low-resistance electrical connections necessary for Joule heating allows the oven to be extremely well thermally isolated from the rest of the vacuum system. Extrapolating from high-flux measurements of an oven filled with calcium, we calculate that a target region number density of 100cm-3, suitable for rapid ion loading, will be produced with 175(10) mW of heating laser power, limited by radiative losses. With simple feedforward to the laser power, the turn-on time for the oven is 15s. Our measurements indicate that an oven volume 1000 times smaller could still hold enough source metal for decades of continuous operation.
Highlights
Cold trapped atomic ions are an ideal platform for quantum computing beyond the fault tolerant threshold, having demonstrated the highest fidelity operations and the highest ratio of coherence time to gate period[1,2,3,4] of any qubit candidate
To validate the performance of the oven, we evaluate the dynamic and equilibrium number density of atoms produced within the target region versus heating laser power via spectroscopic measurements
By avoiding the increased thermal conductive losses associated with the wiring required for electrical heating, the oven may be extremely well thermally isolated from the surrounding vacuum system, and we find 175 mW of optical power heats the oven to 485 K, producing atomic flux density suitable for rapid loading of a ion trap
Summary
Cold trapped atomic ions are an ideal platform for quantum computing beyond the fault tolerant threshold, having demonstrated the highest fidelity operations (preparation, readout, and single- and two-qubit gates) and the highest ratio of coherence time to gate period[1,2,3,4] of any qubit candidate. There are aspects which become more challenging, primarily achieving a suitable quality of vacuum with limited pump rates, putting a strong imperative on making vacuum-side components as simple and clean as possible and minimizing localised heating of the system to reduce outgassing. One such in-vacuum component is the atomic source used to load the ion trap, which typically consists of a resistively heated oven connected to a pair of high-current vacuum feedthroughs. In this paper we demonstrate how optical heating of the oven mitigates these issues and demonstrate an effective miniaturised atomic source compatible with ultra-compact ion trap systems
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