Southwest Quantum Information and Technology

Studying sources of anomalous heating

Presenting Author: Crystal Noel, UC Berkeley
Contributing Author(s): Ishan Talukdar, Maya Lewin-Berlin, William Tokumaru, Nikos Daniilidis

Trapped ions provide a suitable platform for quantum information applications due to long coherence times and well-controlled manipulation of their quantum state. In order to scale to many qubits and allow for fast processing, traps are getting smaller and ions are trapped closer to the surface. An unfortunate consequence of this scaling is an increased sensitivity to electric field noise at the surface that leads to ‘anomalous heating’ of the ions. We report here studies seeking to identify sources of the surface noise using analysis techniques such as FTIR and Auger spectroscopy. We present recent results on the effect of exposing the surface to near UV light on anomalous heating. We also discuss initial studies of improved surface treatment methods.

(Session 5 : Thursday from 5:00 - 7:00 pm)