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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)

Coherent rydberg excitation of a single trapped ion

Gerard T. Higgins, Fabian Pokorny, Chi Zhang, Quentin Bodart, Florian Kress, Christine Maier, Johannes Haag, Weibin Li, Igor Lesanovsky, Markus Hennrich

Published Jun 1, 2017• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Summary form only given. Trapped Rydberg ions are a promising new approach to quantum information processing [1, 2]. This idea combines qubit encoding in the ions' ground states with entanglement operations via the Rydberg interaction. It promises to speed up entanglement operations and make them available in larger ion crystals.In this presentation, we will report on our experimental results with trapped strontium Rydberg ions. In particular, we have recently mapped the population from ground to the 42S1/2Rydberg state and back using stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) [3] - to our knowledge the first observed coherently manipulated Rydberg excitation of an ion. Moreover, we will present our observation of fundamental trap effects due to the interaction of the Rydberg ion with the electric trapping field [4]. A solid understanding of these effects is essential for future applications in quantum information processing.In the near future, we plan to excite the ions to even higher Rydberg states and to apply microwave radiation to induce large oscillating dipole moments. In this way, ions should be able to interact at a distance as required for quantum gates via the Rydberg interaction.

DOI
10.1109/cleoe-eqec.2017.8087333

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Summary form only given. Trapped Rydberg ions are a promising new approach to quantum information processing [1, 2]. This idea combines qubit encoding in the ions' ground states with entanglement operations via the Rydberg interaction. It promises to speed up entanglement operations and make them available in larger ion crystals.In this presentation, we will report on our experimental results with trapped strontium Rydberg ions. In particular, we have recently mapped the population from ground to the 42S1/2Rydberg state and back using stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) [3] - to our knowledge the first observed coherently manipulated Rydberg excitation of an ion. Moreover, we will present our observation of fundamental trap effects due to the interaction of the Rydberg ion with the electric trapping field [4]. A solid understanding of these effects is essential for future applications in quantum information processing.In the near future, we plan to excite the ions to even higher Rydberg states and to apply microwave radiation to induce large oscillating dipole moments. In this way, ions should be able to interact at a distance as required for quantum gates via the Rydberg interaction.
Trapped Rydberg ions are a novel approach for quantum information processing [1,2]. This idea joins the advanced quantum control of trapped ions with the strong dipolar interaction between Rydberg atoms. For trapped ions this method promises to speed up entangling interactions [3] and to enable such operations in larger ion crystals [4]. We report on the first experimental realization of trapped strontium Rydberg ions. A single ion was confined in a linear Paul trap and excited to Rydberg states (25S to 37S) using a two-photon excitation with 243nm and 308nm laser light. The transitions we observed are narrow and the excitation can be performed repeatedly which indicates that the Rydberg ions are stable in the ion trap. Similar results have been recently reported on a single photon Rydberg excitation of trapped calcium ions [5]. The tunability of the 304-309nm laser should enable us to excite our strontium ions to even higher Rydberg levels. Such highly excited levels are required to achieve a strong interaction between neighboring Rydberg ions in the trap as will be required for quantum gates using the Rydberg interaction. References [1] M. Müller, L. Liang, I. Lesanovsky, P. Zoller, New J. Phys. 10, 093009 (2008). [2] F. Schmidt-Kaler, et al., New J. Phys. 13, 075014 (2011). [3] W. Li, I. Lesanovsky, Appl. Phys. B 114, 37-44 (2014). [4] W. Li, A.W. Glaetzle, R. Nath, I. Lesanovsky, Phys. Rev. A 87, 052304 (2013). [5] T. Feldker, et al., arXiv:1506.05958
Trapped Rydberg ions are a promising new system for quantum information processing. They have the potential to join the precise quantum operations of trapped ions and the strong, long-range interactions between Rydberg atoms. Combining the two systems is not at all straightforward. Rydberg atoms are severely affected by electric fields which may cause Stark shifts and field ionization, while electric fields are used to trap ions. Thus, a thorough understanding of the physical properties of Rydberg ions due to the trapping electric fields is essential for future applications. Here we report the observation of two fundamental trap effects. First, we investigate the interaction of the Rydberg electron with the trapping electric quadrupole fields which leads to Floquet sidebands in the excitation spectra. Second, we report on the modified trapping potential in the Rydberg state compared to the ground state which results from the strong polarizability of the Rydberg ion. By controlling both effects we observe resonance lines close to their natural linewidth demonstrating an unprecedented level of control of this novel quantum platform.
Combining the strong, long-range interactions of cold Rydberg atoms with the controllability of trapped ions, trapped Rydberg ions provide a promising platform for scalable quantum information processing. As demonstrated in a breakthrough experiment [1], microwave dressing of Rydberg states induces permanent rotating dipole moments leading to strong interactions between highly excited ions. Due to the separation of timescales, the fast electronic dynamics of Rydberg ions decouple from the slower motional modes of the linear Coulomb crystal, which typically mediate entangling gates in ground-state ion systems. Therefore, Rydberg ions enable significantly faster gate operations. We demonstrate how the unique properties of trapped Rydberg ions can be exploited to realize fast and high-fidelity entangling gates, along with the associated challenges and strategies to overcome them. Different types of gate protocols for two- and three-qubit entangling gates with trapped Rydberg ions are presented and sources of infidelity are analyzed.
Trapped Rydberg ions are a promising new system for quantum information processing. They have the potential to join the precise quantum operations of trapped ions and the strong, long-range interactions between Rydberg atoms. Technically, the ion trap will need to stay active while exciting the ions into the Rydberg state, else the strong Coulomb repulsion will quickly push the ions apart. Thus, a thorough understanding of the trap effects on Rydberg ions is essential for future applications. Here we report the observation of two fundamental trap effects. First, we investigate the interaction of the Rydberg electron with the quadrupolar electric trapping field. This effect leads to Floquet sidebands in the spectroscopy of Rydberg D-states whereas Rydberg S-states are unaffected due to their symmetry. Second, we report on the modified trapping potential in the Rydberg state compared to the ground state which results from the strong polarizability of the Rydberg ion. We observe the resultant energy shifts as a line broadening which can be suppressed by cooling the ion to the motional ground state in the directions orthogonal to the excitation laser.
Trapped Rydberg ions are a novel approach to quantum information processing [1], [2]. Qubit rotations in the ion's lower lying electronic states are combined with entanglement operations that take advantage of strong Rydberg interactions [3]. In our experimental setup we excite trapped strontium ions from the metastable 4D state to the Rydberg manifold using a two photon excitation process. Certain properties of the ion become more prominent for highly excited states. One example is the polarizabilty which reacts to the surrounding electric field of the trapping electrodes. While effects due to the polarizability are negligible for lower lying states, they become more prominent for highly-excited states. This change leads to an altered trapping potential for the high lying Rydberg states, as shown in Fig. 1 [4]. For previous experiments those shifts have always been compensated for to perform, for example, sub-microsecond entangling gates between trapped ions [5]. However, this trapping field displacement can also be used to coherently control the ions' motion.
We present a detailed theoretical and conceptual study of a planned experiment to excite Rydberg states of ions trapped in a Paul trap. The ultimate goal is to exploit the strong state-dependent interactions between Rydberg ions to implement quantum information processing protocols and simulate the dynamics of strongly interacting spin systems. We highlight the promise of this approach when combining the high degree of control and readout of quantum states in trapped ion crystals with the novel and fast gate schemes based on interacting giant Rydberg atomic dipole moments. We discuss anticipated theoretical and experimental challenges on the way to its realization.