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arXiv:2610.08411

A 3D-Printed GHz Microwave-Resonator Paul Trap for Electron Confinement and Millisecond Spin-Qubit Coherence

Niklas V. Lausti, Vineet Kumar, Ivan Hudák, Jiří Hajnyš, Peter Kúš, Radek Plašil, Michal Hejduk

quant-phphysics.app-phSubmitted Oct 6, 2026• Announced Oct 7, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

We report a 3D-printed microwave-resonator Paul trap that operates at the GHz frequencies required for electron confinement while preserving an open geometry suitable for laser access and imaging ion Coulomb crystals. The resonator exhibits moderate quality factors of approximately 1000, enabling large confining electric-field amplitudes at low input power, and is in good agreement with finite-element-method (FEM) predictions despite manufacturing imperfections, which we experimentally characterize. The validated FEM model is then used to calculate the electromagnetic fields in the trapping region. These field distributions, together with surface-roughness measurements, are incorporated into a model of electron spin-qubit decoherence to estimate the coherence time. Our analysis predicts that electron spin-qubit coherence times on the order of 10 ms should be achievable under the assumption that motional heating is dominated by Johnson noise, making such systems relevant for quantum information processing. The method of obtaining the coherence time is applicable to any electron Paul trap.

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14 pages, 6 figures

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We demonstrate trapping of electrons in a millimeter-sized quadrupole Paul trap driven at 1.6 GHz in a room-temperature ultrahigh vacuum setup.Cold electrons are introduced into the trap by ionization of atomic calcium via Rydberg states and stay confined by microwave and static electric fields for several tens of milliseconds.A fraction of these electrons remain trapped longer and show no measurable loss for measurement times up to a second.Electronic excitation of the motion reveals secular frequencies that can be tuned over a range of several tens to hundreds of MHz.Operating a similar electron Paul trap in a cryogenic environment may provide a platform for all-electric quantum computing with trapped electron spin qubits.
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Qubits encoded in the spin of trapped electrons have been proposed as a promising novel platform for quantum information processing. While trapping of electrons has been largely carried out in Penning traps for precision measurement purposes, it is desirable to use linear Paul traps instead, leaning on the successes of trapped ion quantum processors. Here we present a Paul trap for electrons made of a single printed circuit board. Our approach requires no assembly and the rigid design minimizes manufacturing intolerances. We characterize the trap performance and observe trapped electron lifetimes of 2.13 ms and secular frequencies of up to 90 MHz.
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We demonstrate trapping of electrons in a millimeter-sized quadrupole Paul trap driven at 1.6 GHz in a room-temperature ultra-high vacuum setup. Cold electrons are introduced into the trap by ionization of atomic calcium via Rydberg states and stay confined by microwave and static electric fields for several tens of milliseconds. A fraction of these electrons remains trapped longer and shows no measurable loss for measurement times up to a second. Electronic excitation of the motion reveals secular frequencies from several tens to hundreds of MHz. Operating a similar electron Paul trap in a cryogenic environment may provide a platform for all-electric quantum computing with trapped electron spin qubits.