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arXiv:2601.04591

Multimode Phonon-Number Measurement and Single-shot Superparity Measurement using Dispersive Shifts in a Trapped Ion

Wonhyeong Choi, Jiyong Kang, Kyunghye Kim, Jaehun You, Kyungmin Lee, Taehyun Kim

quant-phSubmitted Jan 8, 2026• Announced Jan 9, 2026• 0 citations• Revised Jun 30, 2026 (v2)
v1 · Jan 8, 2026v2 · Jun 30, 2026
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Abstract

Dispersive shifts are a widely used tool for bosonic readout and control in circuit quantum electrodynamics, yet they remain relatively unexplored in trapped-ion motional systems. Here we introduce a unified framework for multimode phonon-number measurement and nondestructive single-shot superparity measurement, i.e., phonon-number measurement modulo 2^k, using dispersive shifts in the far-detuned multimode Jaynes-Cummings interaction of a trapped ion system. We implement a Ramsey sequence that realizes a multimode spin-dependent rotation (SDR) together with a selective decoupling scheme that cancels the phase induced by the carrier AC-Stark shift while preserving the phonon-number-dependent phase induced by the dispersive shift. Within this framework, we infer single-mode and two-mode Fock-state distributions from spin-population dynamics, use SDR-based conditional parity operators with postselection to generate cat states and entangled coherent states, and realize nondestructive single-shot measurements of phonon number modulo 2, 4, and 8 in the single-mode setting. These results open a new avenue for the use of multimode parity operators in trapped-ion bosonic systems.

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Dispersive shifts are a widely used tool for bosonic readout and control in circuit quantum electrodynamics, yet they remain relatively unexplored in trapped-ion motional systems. Here we introduce a unified framework for multimode phonon-number measurement and nondestructive single-shot superparity measurement, i.e., phonon-number measurement modulo 2^k, using dispersive shifts in the far-detuned multimode Jaynes-Cummings interaction of a trapped ion system. We implement a Ramsey sequence that realizes a multimode spin-dependent rotation (SDR) together with a selective decoupling scheme that cancels the phase induced by the carrier AC-Stark shift while preserving the phonon-number-dependent phase induced by the dispersive shift. Within this framework, we infer single-mode and two-mode Fock-state distributions from spin-population dynamics, use SDR-based conditional parity operators with postselection to generate cat states and entangled coherent states, and realize nondestructive single-shot measurements of phonon number modulo 2, 4, and 8 in the single-mode setting. These results open a new avenue for the use of multimode parity operators in trapped-ion bosonic systems.
The full characterization of a continuous-variable quantum system is a challenging problem. For the trapped-ion system, a number of methods of measuring the quantum states have been developed, including the measurement of the Q quasiprobability function and the density-matrix elements in the Fock basis, but these approaches are often slow and difficult to scale to multimode states. Here, we demonstrate a novel and powerful scheme for measuring a continuous-variable quantum state that uses the direct single-shot measurement of the joint parity of the phonon states of a trapped ion. We drive a spin-dependent bichromatic beam-splitter interaction that coherently exchanges phonons between different harmonic oscillator modes of the ion. This interaction encodes the joint-parity information into the relative phase between the two spin states, enabling measurement of the combined phonon-number parity across multiple modes in a single shot. Leveraging this capability, we directly measure multimode Wigner quasiprobability distributions to perform quantum state tomography of an entangled coherent state, and calculate various quantum informational quantities with a model-based estimation of the density matrix. We further show that the single-shot joint-parity measurement can be used to detect parity-flip errors in real time. By postselecting the parity-measurement outcomes, we experimentally demonstrate the partial recovery of coherence, effectively implementing an error-mitigation technique. Lastly, we identify the various sources of error affecting the fidelity of the spin-dependent beam-splitter operation and study the feasibility of high-fidelity operations. The interaction studied in this work can be extended to more than two modes, and is highly relevant to continuous-variable quantum computing and quantum metrology.
Trapped atomic ions are a versatile platform for studying interactions between spins and bosons by coupling the internal states of the ions to their motion. Measurement of complex motional states with multiple modes is challenging, because all motional state populations can only be measured indirectly through the spin state of ions. Here we present a general method to determine the Fock state distributions and to reconstruct the density matrix of an arbitrary multimode motional state. We experimentally verify the method using different entangled states of multiple radial modes in a five-ion chain. This method can be extended to any system with Jaynes-Cummings-type interactions.
Spin-dependent forces enable independent control over the effective frequencies of bosonic motional modes and their coupling strengths to spins in trapped-ion spin-boson quantum simulators. We show that the relative signs of these effective frequencies provide an important programmable resource for engineering distinct multimode dynamics. Focusing on a two-mode quantum Rabi model, changing the frequencies of the two modes from the same sign to opposite signs reorganizes the resonance structure of the spin-mediated bosonic interaction, converting the dominant resonant process from excitation exchange to correlated pair creation. In the dispersive regime, the resulting effective interaction realizes a two-mode parametric amplifier with stable oscillatory, critical, and exponentially amplifying regimes separated by a spin-dependent instability threshold. Across these regimes, the dynamics generate collective-quadrature squeezing and bipartite motional entanglement. Preparing the spin in a coherent superposition further allows different spin components to experience distinct stability regimes, generating tripartite spin-boson entanglement, while spin postselection can coherently combine the conditional bosonic branches to generate non-Gaussian entangled bosonic states. Finally, we outline an implementation using parameters within reach of current trapped-ion platforms.
Quantum phase estimation is usually introduced as an algorithmic primitive for extracting eigenphases of unitary operators. Here we show that, when implemented through a dispersive light-matter interaction, it can also be used as a nondestructive measurement tool for bosonic fields. We consider a bosonic mode coupled to a multi-qubit register and calibrate the photon-number dependent phase shifts so that the register performs a number-resolved quantum phase estimation readout. Repeating this readout during dissipative evolution enables nondestructive monitoring of photon-number dynamics. We then show that the same readout can be converted into a Wigner tomography reconstruction by applying phase-space displacements before the quantum phase estimation block. Numerical reconstructions for Fock, coherent, and even/odd Schrödinger cat states show the expected nonclassical phase-space structures and near-unity Wigner overlap fidelities. The protocol provides a unified route to nondestructive monitoring and state tomography of bosonic fields, with direct relevance for bosonic-state characterization, calibration, and control in superconducting quantum architectures.
We dispersively couple a single trapped ion to an optical cavity to extract information about the cavity photon-number distribution in a nondestructive way. The photon-number-dependent ac Stark shift experienced by the ion is measured via Ramsey spectroscopy. We use these measurements first to obtain the ion-cavity interaction strength. Next, we reconstruct the cavity photon-number distribution for coherent states and for a state with mixed thermal-coherent statistics, finding overlaps above 99% with the calibrated states.
We introduce quantum sensing schemes for measuring very weak forces with a single trapped ion. They use the spin-motional coupling induced by the laser-ion interaction to transfer the relevant force information to the spin-degree of freedom. Therefore, the force estimation is carried out simply by observing the Ramsey-type oscillations of the ion spin states. Three quantum probes are considered, which are represented by systems obeying the Jaynes-Cummings, quantum Rabi (in 1D) and Jahn-Teller (in 2D) models. By using dynamical decoupling schemes in the Jaynes-Cummings and Jahn-Teller models, our force sensing protocols can be made robust to the spin dephasing caused by the thermal and magnetic field fluctuations. In the quantum-Rabi probe, the residual spin-phonon coupling vanishes, which makes this sensing protocol naturally robust to thermally-induced spin dephasing. We show that the proposed techniques can be used to sense the axial and transverse components of the force with a sensitivity beyond the range, i.e. in the (xennonewton, 10(-27)). The Jahn-Teller protocol, in particular, can be used to implement a two-channel vector spectrum analyzer for measuring ultra-low voltages.