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arXiv:quant-ph/9710044 · Physical Review A

Decoherence in ion traps due to laser intensity and phase fluctuations

Sara Schneider, Gerard J Milburn

Published May 1, 1998• 109 citations
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Abstract

We consider one source of decoherence for a single trapped ion due to intensity and phase fluctuations in the exciting laser pulses. For simplicity we assume that the stochastic processes involved are white noise processes, which enables us to give a simple master equation description of this source of decoherence. This master equation is averaged over the noise, and is sufficient to describe the results of experiments that probe the oscillations in the electronic populations as energy is exchanged between the internal and electronic motion. Our results are in good qualitative agreement with recent experiments and predict that the decoherence rate will depend on vibrational quantum number in different ways depending on which vibrational excitation sideband is used.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.57.3748

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We consider one source of decoherence for a single trapped ion due to intensity and phase fluctuations in the exciting laser pulses. For simplicity we assume that the stochastic processes involved are white noise processes, which enables us to give a simple master equation description of this source of decoherence. This master equation is averaged over the noise, and is sufficient to describe the results of experiments that probe the oscillations in the electronic populations as energy is exchanged between the internal and electronic motion. Our results are in good qualitative agreement with recent experiments and predict that the decoherence rate will depend on vibrational quantum number in different ways depending on which vibrational excitation sideband is used.
Summary form only given.To model the decoherence in ion traps resulting from laser intensity and phase fluctuations, we assume that the stochastic processes involved are white noise processes, which enables us to give a simple master equation description of this source of decoherence. We discuss the effects those fluctuations have on gate operations in ion-trap quantum computation and briefly address possible detection and error correction mechanisms. The master equation is then averaged over the noise and is sufficient to describe the results of experiments that probe the oscillations in the electronic populations as energy is exchanged between the internal and electronic motion. We get solutions for the probability of the ion to be in the ground state for both intensity and phase fluctuations. Our results predict that the decoherence rate resulting from intensity fluctuations will depend on the vibrational quantum number in different ways depending on which vibrational excitation sideband is used. So the dependence of the decoherence rate for the second red sideband depends quadratically on the vibrational energy state |n> the ion is prepared in, whereas for the first sideband, this effect is linear in n. Due to this result, the second red (or any higher-order) sideband is a better choice for testing the dependence of decoherence on the excitation in the vibrational state experimentally than just the first-order sideband. Because those fluctuations in the exciting laser pulse are not the only source of decoherence, we briefly discuss fluctuations in the trap potential itself. These fluctuations lead to a wobbling trap center point, and we discuss the effects due to them.
Known as an engineered reservoir due to fluctuations in trap parameter, a classical source of quantum decoherence is considered for a single trapped ion theoretically. For simplicity it is assumed that the fluctuations involved are white noise processes, which enables us to give a simple master equation description of this source of decoherence. Our results show that the decoherence rate depends on the vibrational quantum number in different ways corresponding to the vibrational excitation sideband used there. Besides, this source of decoherence also leads to occurrence of dissipation in the ion system.
The effect of ambient magnetic fields on the dynamics of a single trapped ion is studied analytically. We consider two electronic states with energy separation stochastically varied by magnetic-field perturbations and coupled to the vibrational modes by a laser. For Gaussian white noise, a master equation is derived and solved. The results obtained reveal how the effective Rabi frequencies and the decay rates depend on the noise strength and on the number state index. The detection of features specific to magnetic-field noise in the evolution of states that can be prepared under standard experimental conditions is discussed. A comparison with the effects of laser intensity and phase fluctuations is presented. Implications for the realization of logic gates are analyzed.
The effect of intensity fluctuations on laser-induced coupling of electronic and vibrational states of a trapped ion is studied analytically. Different types of noise relevant to the experiments are considered. The resulting decoherence phenomenology is shown to present nontrivial characteristics. Noise color leads to nonexponential decay of the coherences: after the initial decay, determined by the probability distribution, a transient period specific to the noise spectrum is apparent; at large times, exponential decay sets in for widely different noise properties. The detection of these features in the evolution of an initial coherent state of the vibrational mode is discussed.
This thesis is concerned with various aspects of ion traps and their use as a quantum simulation and computation device. In its first part we investigate various sources of noise and decoherence in ion traps. As quantum information is very fragile, a detailed knowledge of noise and decoherence sources in a quantum computation device is essential. In the special case of an ion trap quantum computer we investigate the effects of intensity and phase noise in the laser, which is used to perform the gate operations. We then look at other sources of noise which are present without a laser being switched on. These are fluctuations in the trapping frequency caused by noise in the electric potentials applied to the trap and fluctuating electrical fields which will cause heating of the centre-of-mass vibrational state of the ions in the trap. For the case of fluctuating electrical fields we estimate the effect on a quantum gate operation. We then propose a scheme for performing quantum gates without having the ions cooled down to their motional ground state. The second part deals with various aspects of the use of ion traps as a device for quantum computation. We start with the use of ionic qubits as a measurement device for the centre-of-mass vibrational mode and investigate in detail the effect these measurements will have on the vibrational mode. If one wants to use quantum computation devices as systems to simulate quantum mechanics, it is of interest to know how to simulate say a k-level system with N qubits. We investigate the easiest case of this wider problem and look at how to simulate a three-level system (a so called trit) with two qubits in an ion trap quantum computer. We show how to get and measure a SU (3) geometric phase with this toy model. Finally we investigate how to simulate collective angular momentum models with a string of qubits in an ion trap. We assume that the ionic qubits are coupled to a thermal reservoir and derive a master equation for this case. We investigate the semiclassical limit of this master equation and, in the case for two qubits in the trap, determine the entanglement of the steady state. We also outline a way to find the steady state for the master equation using coherence vectors.
We analyze numerically the heating of trapped ions due to laser intensity and phase fluctuations when implementing Grover's algorithm and the Quantum Fourier Transform. For a simpler analysis we assume that the stochastic processes are white noise processes and average over each noise as in [Phys. Rev. A. \textbf{57}, 3748, (1998)]. We investigate the fidelity and the heating rate for these algorithms using parameters estimated from experiments, and we can see the order of magnitude difference in the heating rate depending on the quantum algorithms.