Fast Loading of a Trapped Ion Quantum Computer Using a 2D Magneto-Optical Trap

We demonstrate fast loading of our trapped ion quantum computer using a compact 2D Magneto-Optical Trap (MOT). We characterize the MOT loading system by direct measurements of the cold atomic beam produced thereby. We load both ytterbium and barium ions two orders of magnitude faster than using a conventional oven loading method with negligible impact on vacuum performance in the trapped ion region. These improvements to loading address one of the concerns in scaling our QCCD architecture up to large Qubit numbers.