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arXiv:2301.05279 · Physical Review A

Characterization of fast ion transport via position-dependent optical deshelving

Craig R. Clark, Creston D. Herold, J. True Merrill, Holly N. Tinkey, Wade G. Rellergert, Robert Clark, Roger C. Brown, Wesley D. Robertson, Curtis Volin, Kara Maller, Chris Shappert, Brian J. McMahon, Brian C. Sawyer, Kenton R. Brown

Published Apr 27, 2023• 10 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Ion transport is an essential operation in some models of quantum information processing, where fast ion shuttling with minimal motional excitation is necessary for efficient high-fidelity quantum logic. While fast and cold ion shuttling has been demonstrated, the dynamics and specific trajectory of an ion during diabatic transport have not been studied in detail. Here we describe a position-dependent optical deshelving technique useful for sampling an ion's position throughout its trajectory and we demonstrate the technique on fast linear transport of a ${}^{40}{\text{Ca}}^{+}$ ion in a surface-electrode ion trap. At high speed, the trap's electrode filters strongly distort the transport potential waveform. With this technique, we observe deviations from the intended constant-velocity (100-m/s) transport: We measure an average speed of 82(2) m/s and a peak speed of 251(6) m/s over a distance of 120 $\textmu{}\mathrm{m}$.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.107.043119

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Ion transport is an essential operation in some models of quantum information processing, where fast ion shuttling with minimal motional excitation is necessary for efficient high-fidelity quantum logic. While fast and cold ion shuttling has been demonstrated, the dynamics and specific trajectory of an ion during diabatic transport have not been studied in detail. Here we describe a position-dependent optical deshelving technique useful for sampling an ion's position throughout its trajectory and we demonstrate the technique on fast linear transport of a 40Ca+{}^{40}{\text{Ca}}^{+}40Ca+ ion in a surface-electrode ion trap. At high speed, the trap's electrode filters strongly distort the transport potential waveform. With this technique, we observe deviations from the intended constant-velocity (100-m/s) transport: We measure an average speed of 82(2) m/s and a peak speed of 251(6) m/s over a distance of 120 \textmum\textmu{}\mathrm{m}\textmum.
Abstract Shuttling ions at high speed and with low motional excitation is essential for realizing fast and high-fidelity algorithms in many trapped-ion-based quantum computing architectures. Achieving such performance is challenging due to the sensitivity of an ion to electric fields and the unknown and imperfect environmental and control variables that create them. Here we implement a closed-loop optimization of the voltage waveforms that control the trajectory and axial frequency of an ion during transport in order to minimize the final motional excitation. The resulting waveforms realize fast round-trip transport of a trapped ion across multiple electrodes at speeds of 0.5 electrodes per microsecond (35 m·s −1 for a one-way transport of 210 μm in 6 μs) with a maximum of 0.36 ± 0.08 mean quanta gain. This sub-quanta gain is independent of the phase of the secular motion at the distal location, obviating the need for an electric field impulse or time delay to eliminate the coherent motion.
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 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.
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.
The manipulation of trapped charged particles by electric fields is an accurate, robust, and reliable technique for many applications or experiments in high-precision spectroscopy. The transfer of an ion sample between multiple traps allows the use of a tailored environment in quantum information, cold chemistry, or frequency metrology experiments. In this article, we experimentally study the transport of ion clouds of up to 8000080\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}00080000 ions over a distance of 20 mm inside a linear radio-frequency trap. Ion transport is controlled by a transfer function, which is designed taking into account the local electric potentials. We observe that the ion response is very sensitive to the details of the description of the electric potential. Nevertheless, we show that fast transport---with a total duration of 100 $\ensuremath{\mu}s$---results in transport efficiencies attaining values higher than 90% of the ion number, even with large ion clouds. For clouds smaller than 2000 ions, a 100% transfer efficiency is observed. Transport induced heating, which depends on the transport duration, is also analyzed.
Trapped atomic ions have become one of the most promising architectures for a quantum computer, and current effort is now devoted to the transport of trapped ions through complex segmented ion trap structures in order to scale up to much larger numbers of trapped ion qubits. This paper covers several important issues relevant to ion transport in any type of complex multidimensional rf (Paul) ion trap array. We develop a general theoretical framework for the application of time-dependent electric fields to shuttle laser-cooled ions along any desired trajectory, and describe a method for determining the effect of arbitrary shuttling schedules on the quantum state of trapped ion motion. In addition to the general case of linear shuttling over short distances, we introduce issues particular to the shuttling through multidimensional junctions, which are required for the arbitrary control of the positions of large arrays of trapped ions. This includes the transport of ions around a corner, through a cross or T junction, and the swapping of positions of multiple ions in a laser-cooled crystal. Where possible, we make connections to recent experimental results in a multidimensional T junction trap, where arbitrary 2-dimensional transport was realized.