New optical system designed to target and control individual atoms.
Researchers have pioneered a groundbreaking technique utilizing laser light to control individual qubits made of barium more robustly than any other method currently known. Reliably controlling qubits is a critical step towards actualizing functional quantum computers of the future.
Developed at the
Precision and Avoidance of Crosstalk
“Our design limits the amount of crosstalk–the amount of light falling on neighboring ions–to the very small relative intensity of 0.01 percent, which is among the best in the quantum community,” said Dr. K. Rajibul Islam, a professor at IQC and Waterloo’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. “Unlike previous methods to create agile controls over individual ions, the fiber-based modulators do not affect each other.
“This means we can talk to any ion without affecting its neighbors while also retaining the capability to control each individual ion to the maximum possible extent. This is the most flexible ion qubit control system with this high precision that we know of anywhere, in both academia and industry.”
Barium Ions: The New Quantum Computing Favorite
Barium ions were targeted by the scientists, as they are becoming increasingly popular in the field of trapped ion quantum computation. Barium ions have convenient energy states that can be used as the zero and one levels of a qubit and be manipulated with visible green light, unlike the higher energy ultraviolet light needed for other
Reference: “A guided light system for agile individual addressing of Ba+ qubits with 10−4 level intensity crosstalk” by Ali Binai-Motlagh, Matthew L Day, Nikolay Videnov, Noah Greenberg, Crystal Senko and Rajibul Islam, 27 July 2023, Quantum Science and Technology.
DOI: 10.1088/2058-9565/ace6cb