Ion generation and loading of a Penning trap using pulsed laser ablation

We investigated the production of aluminum and beryllium ions via pulsed laser ablation using 355 nm wavelength and 5 ns long laser pulses. The ablation threshold of Al+ and Be+ was measured to be 0.9 0.1 (stat.) 0.3 (syst.) J cm−2 and 1.4 0.1 (stat.) 0.4 (syst.) J cm−2 respectively. By employing electrostatic retarding potentials, the kinetic energy profile of the ablated ions was characterized as a function of laser fluence. Around the ablation threshold, we reliably produced between 108 and 1010 ions, approximately 5% of which were dynamically trapped in a Penning-Malmberg trap.