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JACOW

Ion Coulomb Crystals in Storage Rings for Quantum Information Science

Kevin A. Brown, Aasma Aslam, Sandra Biedron, Trudy B. Bolin, Renyi Chen, Clio González-Zacarías, Bohong Huang, G. Mahler, Thomas G. Robertazzi, T. Roser, Timur Shaftan, Salvador Sosa Güitrón, Zhi Gao Zhao

Published Jan 1, 2021• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We discuss the possible use of crystalline beams in storage rings for applications in quantum information science (QIS). Crystalline beams have been created in ion trap systems and proven to be useful as a computational basis for QIS applications. The same structures can be created in a storage ring, but the ions necessarily have a constant velocity and are rotating in a circular trap. The basic structures that are needed are ultracold crystalline beams, called ion Coulomb crystals (ICC’s). We will describe different applications of ICC’s for QIS, how QIS information is obtained and can be used for quantum computing, and some of the challenges that need to be resolved to realize practical QIS applications in storage rings.

DOI
10.18429/jacow-ipac2021-wepab411

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We discuss the possible use of crystalline beams in storage rings for applications in quantum information science (QIS). Crystalline beams have been created in ion trap systems and proven to be useful as a computational basis for QIS applications. The same structures can be created in a storage ring, but the ions necessarily have a constant velocity and are rotating in a circular trap. The basic structures that are needed are ultracold crystalline beams, called ion Coulomb crystals (ICC’s). We will describe different applications of ICC’s for QIS, how QIS information is obtained and can be used for quantum computing, and some of the challenges that need to be resolved to realize practical QIS applications in storage rings.
We explore the possible use of particle beam storage rings as quantum computers.More precisely, we consider creating an ion trap system, in which the same computational basis states can be defined as in a modern ion trap system, but in which the ions have a constant velocity and are rotating in a circular trap.The basic structures that we explore are classical and ultracold crystalline beams.What we propose is a novel method that uses the ion trap quantum computer concept, but puts the ions into a rotating frame of reference.The benefits of this approach are discussed.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the possibility of constructing a large-scale storage-ring-type ion-trap system capable of storing, cooling, and controlling a large number of ions as a platform for scalable quantum computing (QC) and quantum simulations. In such a trap, the ions form a crystalline beam moving along a circular path with a constant velocity determined by the frequency and intensity of the cooling lasers. In this paper, we consider a large leap forward in terms of the number of ions that serve as qubits in QC, from fewer than 100 available in state of the art linear ion-trap devices today to an order of 1051{0}^{5}105 crystallized ions in the storage-ring setup. This new trap design unifies two different concepts: the storage rings of charged particles and the linear ion traps used for QC and mass spectrometry. In this paper, we use the language of particle accelerators to discuss the ion state and dynamics. We outline the differences between the above concepts, analyze challenges of the large ring with a revolving chain of ions, and propose goals for the research and development required to enable future quantum computers with 1000 times more qubits than available today. The challenge of creating such a large-scale quantum system while maintaining the necessary coherence of the qubits and the high fidelity of quantum logic operations is significant. Performing analog quantum simulations may be an achievable initial goal for such a device. Quantum calculations and simulations of complex quantum systems will move forward both the fundamental science and the applied research. Nuclear and particle physics, many-body quantum systems, lattice gauge theories, and nuclear structure calculations are just a few examples in which a large-scale quantum simulation system will become a very powerful tool to move forward our understanding of nature.
Quantum information science is a growing field that promises to take computing into a new age of higher performance and larger scale computing as well as being capable of solving problems classical computers are incapable of solving. The outstanding issue in practical quantum computing today is scaling up the system while maintaining interconnectivity of the qubits and low error rates in qubit operations to be able to implement error correction and fault-tolerant operations. Trapped ion qubits offer long coherence times that allow error correction. However, error correction algorithms require large numbers of qubits to work properly. We can potentially create many thousands (or more) of qubits with long coherence states in a storage ring. For example, a circular radio-frequency quadrupole, which acts as a large circular ion trap and could enable larger scale quantum computing. Such a Storage Ring Quantum Computer (SRQC) would be a scalable and fault tolerant quantum information system, composed of qubits with very long coherence lifetimes. With computing demands potentially outpacing the supply of high-performance systems, quantum computing could bring innovation and scientific advances to particle physics and other DOE supported programs. Increased support of R&\&&D in large scale ion trap quantum computers would allow the timely exploration of this exciting new scalable quantum computer. The R&\&&D program could start immediately at existing facilities and would include the design and construction of a prototype SRQC. We invite feedback from and collaboration with the particle physics and quantum information science communities.
Laser cooling of atomic ions has long been used as a tool in physics to explore quantum entanglement for applications in quantum computing and information. More recently, laser-cooled atomic ions have been used as a platform for studying cold chemistry. Here, we describe an experimental system called a “Coulomb crystal,” where laser-cooled ions are confined in traps at sufficiently low translational energies that they form an ordered structure. We then present a range of experiments undertaken using this platform, from studies of reactions with an atomic species to reaction systems of increased complexity, involving molecular ions and neutral molecules. We also describe a few spectroscopic studies enabled by Coulomb crystals before discussing some possible future directions of the field. This is not meant to be a comprehensive review of the entire field, but rather a sampling of the types of experiments that can be performed and the knowledge gained from these studies.