Abstract
We describe the design, commissioning, and operation of an ultra-low-vibration closed-cycle cryogenic ion trap apparatus. One hundred lines for low-frequency signals and eight microwave/radio frequency coaxial feed-lines offer the possibility of implementing a small-scale ion-trap quantum processor or simulator. With all supply cables attached, more than 1.3W of cooling power at 5K is still available for absorbing energy from electrical pulses introduced to control ions. The trap itself is isolated from vibrations induced by the cold head using a helium exchange gas interface. The performance of the vibration isolation system has been characterized using a Michelson interferometer, finding residual vibration amplitudes on the order of 10nm rms. Trapping of 9Be+ ions has been demonstrated using a combination of laser ablation and photoionization.
Highlights
1.1 Quantum computing and quantum simulation with trapped ionsIn 1981, Richard Feynman developed the idea of building a computer that ‘will do exactly the same as nature’ [1], a machine that does not utilize numerical approximations like a classical computer does to simulate quantum physics but quantum mechanics itself
With a given gate time, a cryogenic trap can afford to bring the ions closer to the surface than a room temperature trap, which in turn leads to a higher magnetic gradient, which in turn leads to faster gates, which can tolerate a higher heating rate, which can eventually lead to a trap with even further reduced surface to ion distance
The cryogenic environment at 5 K creates very low pressure vacuum conditions that are ideal for holding trapped ions undisturbed by background gas collisions
Summary
In 1981, Richard Feynman developed the idea of building a computer that ‘will do exactly the same as nature’ [1], a machine that does not utilize numerical approximations like a classical computer does to simulate quantum physics but quantum mechanics itself. Many technological platforms are under investigation to build a universal quantum computer These include but are not limited to realizing a qubit as a polarization state of a photon, as a nuclear spin-state in molecules, as quantum dots in semiconductors, as quantized superconducting currents and as trapped atoms or ions [7]. The Coulomb interaction couples the motion of the ions and if they are sufficiently cold they can be treated like coupled quantum mechanical harmonic oscillators and they exhibit collective modes of motion as well as modes of motion that only affect certain combinations of ions [11] Simultaneous manipulation of these modes of motion and selected individual qubit states can mediate the controlled exchange of quantum information between two or more qubits and is the base of quantum computing with trapped ions [12]. It has been demonstrated that trapped ions can realize a programmable quantum computer [13] and run the aforementioned Shor algorithm [14] and Grover’s algorithm [15]
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