Towards a Ba-133 trapped ion quantum simulator

We present our progress toward an academic Ba-133 trapped ion testbed, which will provide a sophisticated platform for probing this exciting barium isotope. The project aims to demonstrate advanced cooling techniques on long chains of this unique isotope, ion shuttling, and generation of spin-spin entanglement between ions. Due to its unrivaled experimental state preparation and measurement fidelities, Ba⁺ has recently emerged as a top contender among trapped ion candidates for quantum simulation and information processing. However, a significant challenge with the Ba-133 isotope is its radioactivity (half-life of 10.6 years), only allowing microgram quantities to be used for trapping. We describe techniques for creating ablation targets with microgram quantities of barium chloride and quantify their feasibility for trapped ion experiments by measuring ablation-generated neutral fluorescence. Further, we comment on the use of an autoionizing resonance in Ba-133 for increased trapping probability and isotope selective loading of this elusive ion using a two-step photoionization process (553.70 & 389.74 nm).