Quantum electronics with trapped ions

An oscillating trapped ion induces oscillating image charges in the trap electrodes. If this current is send to the electrodes of a second trap, it influences the motion of an ion in the second trap. The expected time for a complete exchange of the ion motions is 1 ms for a trap with a characteristic size of 50 μm. This inter-trap coupling may be used for scalable quantum computing, cooling ion species that are not directly accessible to laser cooling, for the non-invasive study of superconductors, and for coupling an ion-trap quantum computer to a solid-state quantum computer, e.g. a system of Josephson junctions.

This project is supported by AFOSR project "Prototype solid state quantum interface for trapped ions".

Sketch of the current set-up to explore the ion-wire interaction. A planar segmented trap confines two ions at different locations. The wire above the ion will mediate the coupling. This wire is electrically isolated from the environment and can be moved with nano positioners.

Last modified: October 29 2011.