Cryogenic ion trapping systems with surface-electrode traps

We present two simple cryogenic rf ion trap systems in which cryogenic temperatures and ultra high vacuum pressures can be reached in as little as 12 h. The ion traps are operated either in a liquid helium bath cryostat or in a low vibration closed cycle cryostat. The fast turn around time and availability of buffer gas cooling made the systems ideal for testing surface-electrode ion traps. The vibration amplitude of the closed cycled cryostat was found to be below 106 nm. We evaluated the systems by loading surface-electrode ion traps with S 88 r+ ions using laser ablation, which is compatible with the cryogenic environment. Using Doppler cooling we observed small ion crystals in which optically resolved ions have a trapped lifetime over 2500 min.