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Manipulating mixed-species ion crystals in a segmented ion trap.

Jonathan Home, National Institute of Standards and Technology

(Session 5 : Friday from 5:00-7:00)

Abstract. Manipulating mixed-species ion crystals in a segmented ion trap* One of the main requirements for scalable quantum information processing is the ability to move information around the processor. In ion trap QIP, one possibility is to move the ions themselves, using control voltages applied to the electrodes of a segmented trap. In practice, ambient fluctuations in the electric field at the ion and imperfect control of electrode potentials mean that the ion's motion is excited, which degrades the performance of two-qubit logic gates. One solution is to trap two different ion species in the same potential. This allows re-initialization of the ground state of motion by laser cooling the refrigerator ion, while leaving quantum information stored in the internal state of the qubit ion intact. We describe experimental implementation of a range of manipulations of ion crystals containing Beryllium and Magnesium ions in a segmented ion trap, including ion re-ordering, separation, and ground state cooling. In addition, we have used the motion of these ion chains to characterize higher order terms in our trapping potential, which significantly change the normal modes of extended crystals. The precise level of control of the trap potential required for manipulating such crystals has implications for the design of small scale ion traps. * Supported by IARPA and the NIST Quantum Information Program