We realize fast transport of ions in a segmented micro-structured Paul trap. The ion is shuttled over a distance of more than 10 4 times its groundstate wavefunction size during only 5 motional cycles of the trap (280 µm in 3.6 µs). Starting from a ground-state-cooled ion, we find an optimized transport such that the energy increase is as low as 0.10±0.01 motional quanta. In addition, we demonstrate that quantum information stored in a spin-motion entangled state is preserved throughout the transport. Shuttling operations are concatenated, as a proof-of-principle for the shuttling-based architecture to scalable ion trap quantum computing. . Scalable information processing in a multiplexed ion trap can be accomplished by having fixed processing sites where logic operations are performed, and ion qubits will be moved in and out of these regions by shuttling operations. The duration of such shuttling has to be much faster than the relevant decoherence times [4]. Furthermore, it is desirable to reduce the total time consumption of all relevant operations, where shuttling will contribute a considerable amount [5], and aim for the performance of the naturally fast solid state architectures [6]. So far, ion shuttling in a multiplexed trap has been demonstrated together with additional sympathetic cooling [7], and in the adiabatic regime, where the transient displacement of the ion is smaller than the size of the its wavepacket [8,9]. Transport of neutral atoms have also been performed using magnetic [10] or optical [11] techniques.Because quantum gate operations require ions close to the motional ground state and fast transport inherently creates motional excitation, the challenge is to develop transport protocols that guarantee sufficiency small energy transfer. In this work we demonstrate shuttling operations that are highly non-adiabatic while the final state of the ion is close to the motional groundstate. We also show that quantum information stored in both the motional and the spin degree of freedom is preserved through the shuttling.During a shuttling operation, the ion motion in the harmonic trapping potential is excited when the acceleration is sufficiently strong. This motional excitation is a harmonic oscillation, characterized by a well defined phase, thus allowing it to be canceled out by proper management of the forces involved during or after the transport. We experimentally demonstrate two methods of canceling the acquired motional excitation. One method uses two shuttles, where the transport to the destination generates the same net momentum transfer as the transport back, but is applied 180 • out of phase with respect to the secular oscillation of the ion (Fig. 1b). We refer to this as the pairwise energy-neutral transport. For the second scheme, the self-neutral transport we apply a sharp counter-"kick" to the ion at the end of a single transport operation, stopping its motion (Fig. 1c). This case of single-sided transport allows even faster shuttling and can be sequentially repeated since it is ener...

Trapped, laser-cooled atoms and ions are quantum systems which can be experimentally controlled with an as yet unmatched degree of precision. Due to the control of the motion and the internal degrees of freedom, these quantum systems can be adequately described by a well known Hamiltonian. In this colloquium, we present powerful numerical tools for the optimization of the external control of the motional and internal states of trapped neutral atoms, explicitly applied to the case of trapped laser-cooled ions in a segmented ion-trap. We then delve into solving inverse problems, when optimizing trapping potentials for ions. Our presentation is complemented by a quantum mechanical treatment of the wavepacket dynamics of a trapped ion. Efficient numerical solvers for both time-independent and time-dependent problems are provided. Shaping the motional wavefunctions and optimizing a quantum gate is realized by the application of quantum optimal control techniques. The numerical methods presented can also be used to gain an intuitive understanding of quantum experiments with trapped ions by performing virtual simulated experiments on a personal computer. Code and executables are supplied as supplementary online material 1 .

Miniaturized ion trap arrays with many trap segments present a promising architecture for scalable quantum information processing. The miniaturization of segmented linear Paul traps allows partitioning the microtrap in different storage and processing zones. The individual position control of many ions -each of them carrying qubit information in its long-lived electronic levels -by the external trap control voltages is important for the implementation of next generation large-scale quantum algorithms.We present a novel scalable microchip multi-segmented ion trap with two different adjacent zones, one for the storage and another dedicated for the processing of quantum information using single ions and linear ion crystals: A pair of radio-frequency driven electrodes and 62 independently controlled DC electrodes allows shuttling of single ions or linear ion crystals with numerically designed axial potentials at axial and radial trap frequencies of a few MHz. We characterize and optimize the microtrap using sideband spectroscopy on the narrow S 1/2 ↔ D 5/2 qubit transition of the 40 Ca + ion, demonstrate coherent single qubit Rabi rotations and optical cooling methods. We determine the heating rate using sideband cooling measurements to the vibrational ground state which is necessary for subsequent two-qubit quantum logic operations. The applicability for scalable quantum information processing is proven.

We use a single ion as an movable electric field sensor with accuracies on the order of a few V/m. For this, we compensate undesired static electric fields in a planar RF trap and characterize the static fields over an extended region along the trap axis. We observe a strong buildup of stray charges around the loading region on the trap resulting in an electric field of up to 1.3 kV/m at the ion position. We also find that the profile of the stray field remains constant over a time span of a few months.

Abstract. We demonstrate the implementation of a spin qubit with a single 40 Ca + ion in a micro ion trap. The qubit is encoded in the Zeeman ground state levels m J = +1/2 and m J = −1/2 of the S 1/2 state of the ion. We show sideband cooling close to the vibrational ground state and demonstrate the initialization and readout of the qubit levels with 99.5% efficiency. We employ a Raman transition close to the S 1/2 -P 1/2 resonance for coherent manipulation of the qubit. We observe single qubit rotations with 96% fidelity and gate times below 5µs. Rabi oscillations on the blue motional sideband are used to extract the phonon number distribution. The dynamics of this distribution is analyzed to deduce the trap-induced heating rate of 0.3(1) phonons/ms.

Abstract. We create displaced number states, which are non-classical generalizations of coherent states, of a vibrational mode of a single trapped ion. The creation of these states is accomplished by a combination of optical and electrical manipulation of the ion. A number state is first prepared by laser-driven climbing of the Jaynes-Cummings ladder, followed by displacement created by a sudden shift of the electrostatic trapping potential. Number states n =0,1 and 2 are prepared, and displacement amplitudes of up to α ≈ 2.8 are reached. The states are analyzed tomographically, and we find a good agreement with the theoretically expected results for displaced number states. Quantum features elucidating the concept of interference in phase space are clearly demonstrated experimentally.

We introduce a measurement scheme that utilizes a single ion as a local field probe. The ion is confined in a segmented Paul trap and shuttled around to reach different probing sites. By the use of a single atom probe, it becomes possible characterizing fields with spatial resolution of a few nm within an extensive region of millimeters. We demonstrate the scheme by accurately investigating the electric fields providing the confinement for the ion. For this we present all theoretical and practical methods necessary to generate these potentials. We find sub-percent agreement between measured and calculated electric field values

It is expected that ion trap quantum computing can be made scalable through protocols that make use of transport of ion qubits between sub-regions within the ion trap. In this scenario, any magnetic field inhomogeneity the ion experiences during the transport, may lead to dephasing and loss of fidelity. Here we demonstrate how to measure, and compensate for, magnetic field gradients inside a segmented ion trap, by transporting a single ion over variable distances. We attain a relative magnetic field sensitivity of ∆B/B0 ∼ 5 · 10 −7 over a test distance of 140 µm, which can be extended to the mm range, still with sub µm resolution. A fast experimental sequence is presented, facilitating its use as a magnetic field gradient calibration routine, and it is demonstrated that the main limitation is the quantum shot noise.