Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1403.0097 · New Journal of Physics

Dynamics and control of fast ion crystal splitting in segmented Paul traps

H Kaufmann, T Ruster, C T Schmiegelow, F Schmidt-Kaler, U G Poschinger

Published Jul 9, 2014• 43 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the process of splitting two-ion crystals in segmented Paul traps, i.e. the structural transition from two ions confined in a common well to ions confined in separate wells. The precise control of this process by application of suitable voltage ramps to the trap segments is non-trivial, as the harmonic confinement transiently vanishes during the process. This makes the ions strongly susceptible to background electric field noise, and to static offset fields in the direction of the trap axis. We analyze the reasons why large energy transfers can occur, which are impulsive acceleration, the presence of residual background fields and enhanced anomalous heating. For the impulsive acceleration, we identify the diabatic and adiabatic regimes, which are characterized by different scaling behavior of the energy transfer with respect to time. We propose a suitable control scheme based on experimentally accessible parameters. Simulations are used to verify both the high sensitivity of the splitting result and the performance of our control scheme. Finally, we analyze the impact of trap geometry parameters on the crystal splitting process.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/16/7/073012

Related papers

Experimental realization of fast ion separation in segmented Paul traps

Thomas Ruster, C. Warschburger, Henning Kaufmann +7 more

We experimentally demonstrate fast separation of a two-ion crystal in a microstructured segmented Paul trap. By the use of spectroscopic calibration routines for the electrostatic trap potentials, we achieve the required precise control of the ion trajectories near the critical point, where the harmonic confinement by the external potential vanishes. The separation procedure can be controlled by three parameters: a static potential tilt, a voltage offset at the critical point, and the total duration of the process. We show how to optimize the control parameters by measurements of ion distances, trap frequencies, and the final motional excitation. We extend the standard measurement technique for motional excitation to allow for discriminating thermal and oscillatory states, and to cover a dynamic range covering more than 4 orders of magnitude in energy. It is shown that for fast separation times, oscillatory motion is excited, while a predominantly thermal state is obtained for long times. At a separation duration of $80\phantom{\rule{0.222222em}{0ex}}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{s}$, a minimum mean excitation of $\overline{n}=4.16(0.16)$ vibrational quanta per ion is achieved, which is consistent with the adiabatic limit given by our particular trap. The presented technique does not rely on specific trap geometry parameters and can therefore be adopted for different segmented traps.

arXiv:1405.5046•Physical Review A•Sep 10, 2014•65 citations

Quantum State Manipulation and Dynamics in Micro Ion Traps

Frank Ziesel

The outstanding degree of control over trapped ions in Paul traps gives rise to the development of novel quantum manipulation techniques. Optical transitions can be used for precise manipulation of internal and external states. This way, non-classical states can be created which are a key component of quantum algorithms based on quantum logic operations. This powerful optical toolbox enabled the trapped ion system to assume leadership in the field of quantum computation. This thesis addresses two major challenges in the field of micro ion trap quantum optics. The temperature dependence of the heating rate from the ion trap surface is analysed in a novel cryogenic micro ion trap. Furthermore segmented traps allow state manipulations by time dependent electrical potentials, generated by the control voltages. These electrical fields provide a fast and reliable control handle to the ions external degrees of freedom. Quantum computation in Paul trap arrays is based on a combination of ion crystal transport, splitting and merging operations, while laser driven quantum state manipulations are mainly carried out on small ion crystals. Within this thesis a basic building block was realised by performing transport operations with a single ground-state cooled ion. As a highlight of experimental achievements, shuttling in the non-adiabatic regime, on the timescale of the motional period was demonstrated with low residual energy transfer. For his endeavour a specialised low noise arbitrary function generator was designed and manufactured during this thesis. Arbitrary voltage ramps at a sampling rate of up to 2.5 MS/s on up to 12 channels allow the study of a novel excitation method by directly manipulating the ion using electrical forces. Accurate numerical simulations in combination with the fast high resolution voltage supply allow deterministic quantum manipulations via momentum kicks. I report the first experimental demonstration of displaced number states with trapped ions.

•Jan 1, 2012•0 citations

Ion shuttling based on accurate potential control technology

Mengliang Xu, Yi Xie, Ting Chen +7 more

We have developed fast and accurate protocols for ion shuttling in a surface-electrode ion trap, which allows efficient splitting and merging of two ions. These protocols are based on innovative improvements in the driving potential field model, where voltage is introduced as a variable parameter. This enhancement specifically addresses the issue of increased control errors that occur with larger inter-ion distances. We have devised a general model-solving procedure that uses a parameterized model to describe the total potential energy of the two ions and ions oscillating eigenfrequency in a dynamical normal modes. By employing optimization techniques, we determine optimal voltage ramps for the dynamic potential field, enabling accurate control of physical quantities during the splitting process. In additionally, through simulating the classical dynamics of the theoretical scheme, we decouple the ion oscillations by employing discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and nonlinear fitting techniques. Two ions are separated into individual potential wells with a distance of 200 μ𝑚 within 50 μs. The ion position drift is only 0.01%. During the splitting process, the frequency fluctuation of the center-of-mass mode of the ions is less than 0.69%, and the minimum average excitation of a single ion is 0.02 phonon. Accurate and fast ion shuttling technology facilitates the development of large-scale trapped-ion quantum computing. Maintaining the ions oscillating eigenfrequency constant during the shuttling operation alleviates the problem of decoherence of quantum information.

Tenth International Conference on Information Optics and Photonics•Nov 24, 2023•0 citations

Transport of ions in a segmented linear Paul trap in printed-circuit-board technology

G Huber, T. Deuschle, Wolfgang Schnitzler +3 more

We describe the construction and operation of a segmented linear Paul trap, fabricated in printed-circuit-board technology with an electrode segment width of 500 μm. We prove the applicability of this technology to reliable ion trapping and report the observation of Doppler-cooled ion crystals of 40 Ca + with this kind of trap. Measured trap frequencies agree with numerical simulations at the level of a few percent from which we infer a high fabrication accuracy of the segmented trap. To demonstrate its usefulness and versatility for trapped ion experiments we study the fast transport of a single ion. Our experimental results show a success rate of 99.0(1)% for a transport distance of 2 × 2 mm in a round-trip time of T = 20 μs, which corresponds to 4 axial oscillations only. We theoretically and experimentally investigate the excitation of oscillations caused by fast ion transports with error-function voltage ramps: for a slightly slower transport (a round-trip shuttle within T = 30 μs) we observe non-adiabatic motional excitation of 0.89(15) meV.

New Journal of Physics•Jan 14, 2008•74 citations

Fast transport of mixed-species ion chains within a Paul trap

Mikel Palmero, R. Bowler, John Gaebler +2 more

We investigate the dynamics of mixed-species ion crystals during transport between spatially distinct locations in a linear Paul trap in the diabatic regime. In a general mixed-species crystal, all degrees of freedom along the direction of transport are excited by an accelerating well, so unlike the case of same-species ions, where only the center-of-mass mode is excited, several degrees of freedom have to be simultaneously controlled by the transport protocol. We design protocols that lead to low final excitations in the diabatic regime using invariant-based inverse engineering for two different-species ions and also show how to extend this approach to longer mixed-species ion strings. Fast transport of mixed-species ion strings can significantly reduce the operation time in certain architectures for scalable quantum-information processing with trapped ions.

arXiv:1406.7455•Physical Review A•Nov 6, 2014•44 citations

Transport of ions in a segmented linear Paul trap in printed-circuit-board technology

Huber, G., T. Deuschle, Wolfgang Schnitzler +3 more

We describe the construction and operation of a segmented linear Paul trap, fabricated in printed-circuit-board technology with an electrode segment width of 500 microns. We prove the applicability of this technology to reliable ion trapping and report the observation of Doppler cooled ion crystals of Ca-40 with this kind of traps. Measured trap frequencies agree with numerical simulations at the level of a few percent from which we infer a high fabrication accuracy of the segmented trap. To demonstrate its usefulness and versatility for trapped ion experiments we study the fast transport of a single ion. Our experimental results show a success rate of 99.0(1)% for a transport distance of 2x2mm in a round-trip time of T=20us, which corresponds to 4 axial oscillations only. We theoretically and experimentally investigate the excitation of oscillations caused by fast ion transports with error-function voltage ramps: For a slightly slower transport (a round-trip shuttle within T=30us) we observe non-adiabatic motional excitation of 0.89(15)meV.

arXiv:0711.2947•Nov 19, 2007•0 citations
We theoretically investigate the process of splitting two-ion crystals in segmented Paul traps, i.e. the structural transition from two ions confined in a common well to ions confined in separate wells. The precise control of this process by application of suitable voltage ramps to the trap segments is non-trivial, as the harmonic confinement transiently vanishes during the process. This makes the ions strongly susceptible to background electric field noise, and to static offset fields in the direction of the trap axis. We analyze the reasons why large energy transfers can occur, which are impulsive acceleration, the presence of residual background fields and enhanced anomalous heating. For the impulsive acceleration, we identify the diabatic and adiabatic regimes, which are characterized by different scaling behavior of the energy transfer with respect to time. We propose a suitable control scheme based on experimentally accessible parameters. Simulations are used to verify both the high sensitivity of the splitting result and the performance of our control scheme. Finally, we analyze the impact of trap geometry parameters on the crystal splitting process.
We experimentally demonstrate fast separation of a two-ion crystal in a microstructured segmented Paul trap. By the use of spectroscopic calibration routines for the electrostatic trap potentials, we achieve the required precise control of the ion trajectories near the critical point, where the harmonic confinement by the external potential vanishes. The separation procedure can be controlled by three parameters: a static potential tilt, a voltage offset at the critical point, and the total duration of the process. We show how to optimize the control parameters by measurements of ion distances, trap frequencies, and the final motional excitation. We extend the standard measurement technique for motional excitation to allow for discriminating thermal and oscillatory states, and to cover a dynamic range covering more than 4 orders of magnitude in energy. It is shown that for fast separation times, oscillatory motion is excited, while a predominantly thermal state is obtained for long times. At a separation duration of $80\phantom{\rule{0.222222em}{0ex}}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{s}$, a minimum mean excitation of n‾=4.16(0.16)\overline{n}=4.16(0.16)n=4.16(0.16) vibrational quanta per ion is achieved, which is consistent with the adiabatic limit given by our particular trap. The presented technique does not rely on specific trap geometry parameters and can therefore be adopted for different segmented traps.
The outstanding degree of control over trapped ions in Paul traps gives rise to the development of novel quantum manipulation techniques. Optical transitions can be used for precise manipulation of internal and external states. This way, non-classical states can be created which are a key component of quantum algorithms based on quantum logic operations. This powerful optical toolbox enabled the trapped ion system to assume leadership in the field of quantum computation. This thesis addresses two major challenges in the field of micro ion trap quantum optics. The temperature dependence of the heating rate from the ion trap surface is analysed in a novel cryogenic micro ion trap. Furthermore segmented traps allow state manipulations by time dependent electrical potentials, generated by the control voltages. These electrical fields provide a fast and reliable control handle to the ions external degrees of freedom. Quantum computation in Paul trap arrays is based on a combination of ion crystal transport, splitting and merging operations, while laser driven quantum state manipulations are mainly carried out on small ion crystals. Within this thesis a basic building block was realised by performing transport operations with a single ground-state cooled ion. As a highlight of experimental achievements, shuttling in the non-adiabatic regime, on the timescale of the motional period was demonstrated with low residual energy transfer. For his endeavour a specialised low noise arbitrary function generator was designed and manufactured during this thesis. Arbitrary voltage ramps at a sampling rate of up to 2.5 MS/s on up to 12 channels allow the study of a novel excitation method by directly manipulating the ion using electrical forces. Accurate numerical simulations in combination with the fast high resolution voltage supply allow deterministic quantum manipulations via momentum kicks. I report the first experimental demonstration of displaced number states with trapped ions.
We have developed fast and accurate protocols for ion shuttling in a surface-electrode ion trap, which allows efficient splitting and merging of two ions. These protocols are based on innovative improvements in the driving potential field model, where voltage is introduced as a variable parameter. This enhancement specifically addresses the issue of increased control errors that occur with larger inter-ion distances. We have devised a general model-solving procedure that uses a parameterized model to describe the total potential energy of the two ions and ions oscillating eigenfrequency in a dynamical normal modes. By employing optimization techniques, we determine optimal voltage ramps for the dynamic potential field, enabling accurate control of physical quantities during the splitting process. In additionally, through simulating the classical dynamics of the theoretical scheme, we decouple the ion oscillations by employing discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and nonlinear fitting techniques. Two ions are separated into individual potential wells with a distance of 200 μ𝑚 within 50 μs. The ion position drift is only 0.01%. During the splitting process, the frequency fluctuation of the center-of-mass mode of the ions is less than 0.69%, and the minimum average excitation of a single ion is 0.02 phonon. Accurate and fast ion shuttling technology facilitates the development of large-scale trapped-ion quantum computing. Maintaining the ions oscillating eigenfrequency constant during the shuttling operation alleviates the problem of decoherence of quantum information.
We describe the construction and operation of a segmented linear Paul trap, fabricated in printed-circuit-board technology with an electrode segment width of 500 μm. We prove the applicability of this technology to reliable ion trapping and report the observation of Doppler-cooled ion crystals of 40 Ca + with this kind of trap. Measured trap frequencies agree with numerical simulations at the level of a few percent from which we infer a high fabrication accuracy of the segmented trap. To demonstrate its usefulness and versatility for trapped ion experiments we study the fast transport of a single ion. Our experimental results show a success rate of 99.0(1)% for a transport distance of 2 × 2 mm in a round-trip time of T = 20 μs, which corresponds to 4 axial oscillations only. We theoretically and experimentally investigate the excitation of oscillations caused by fast ion transports with error-function voltage ramps: for a slightly slower transport (a round-trip shuttle within T = 30 μs) we observe non-adiabatic motional excitation of 0.89(15) meV.
We investigate the dynamics of mixed-species ion crystals during transport between spatially distinct locations in a linear Paul trap in the diabatic regime. In a general mixed-species crystal, all degrees of freedom along the direction of transport are excited by an accelerating well, so unlike the case of same-species ions, where only the center-of-mass mode is excited, several degrees of freedom have to be simultaneously controlled by the transport protocol. We design protocols that lead to low final excitations in the diabatic regime using invariant-based inverse engineering for two different-species ions and also show how to extend this approach to longer mixed-species ion strings. Fast transport of mixed-species ion strings can significantly reduce the operation time in certain architectures for scalable quantum-information processing with trapped ions.
We describe the construction and operation of a segmented linear Paul trap, fabricated in printed-circuit-board technology with an electrode segment width of 500 microns. We prove the applicability of this technology to reliable ion trapping and report the observation of Doppler cooled ion crystals of Ca-40 with this kind of traps. Measured trap frequencies agree with numerical simulations at the level of a few percent from which we infer a high fabrication accuracy of the segmented trap. To demonstrate its usefulness and versatility for trapped ion experiments we study the fast transport of a single ion. Our experimental results show a success rate of 99.0(1)% for a transport distance of 2x2mm in a round-trip time of T=20us, which corresponds to 4 axial oscillations only. We theoretically and experimentally investigate the excitation of oscillations caused by fast ion transports with error-function voltage ramps: For a slightly slower transport (a round-trip shuttle within T=30us) we observe non-adiabatic motional excitation of 0.89(15)meV.