A microfabricated phase Fresnel lens was used to image ytterbium ions trapped in a radio frequency Paul trap. The ions were laser cooled close to the Doppler limit on the 369.5 nm transition, reducing the ion motion so that each ion formed a near point source. By detecting the ion fluorescence on the same transition, near diffraction limited imaging with spot sizes of below 440 nm (FWHM) was achieved. This is the first demonstration of imaging trapped ions with a resolution on the order of the transition wavelength.

Trapped ions are one of the most promising approaches for the realization of a universal quantum computer. Faster quantum logic gates could dramatically improve the performance of trapped-ion quantum computers, and require the development of suitable high repetition rate pulsed lasers. Here we report on a robust frequency upconverted fiber laser based source, able to deliver 2.5 ps ultraviolet (UV) pulses at a stabilized repetition rate of 300.00000 MHz with an average power of 190 mW. The laser wavelength is resonant with the strong transition in Ytterbium (Yb⁺) at 369.53 nm and its repetition rate can be scaled up using high harmonic mode locking. We show that our source can produce arbitrary pulse patterns using a programmable pulse pattern generator and fast modulating components. Finally, simulations demonstrate that our laser is capable of performing resonant, temperature-insensitive, two-qubit quantum logic gates on trapped Yb⁺ ions faster than the trap period and with fidelity above 99%.

We demonstrate millikelvin thermometry of laser cooled trapped ions with high-resolution imaging. This equilibrium approach is independent of the cooling dynamics and has lower systematic error than Doppler thermometry, with ±5 mK accuracy and ±1 mK precision. We used it to observe highly anisotropic dynamics of a single ion, finding temperatures of < 60 mK and > 15 K simultaneously along different directions. This thermometry technique can offer new insights into quantum systems sympathetically cooled by ions, including atoms, molecules, nanomechanical oscillators, and electric circuits.

We demonstrate a source of 554 nm pulses with 2.7 ps pulse duration and 1.41 W average power, at a repetition rate of 300 MHz. The yellow-green pulse train is generated from the second harmonic of a 1.11 μm fiber laser source in periodically-poled stoichiometric LiTaO3. A total fundamental power of 2.52 W was used, giving a conversion efficiency of 56%.

The metastable 2 F 7/2 and 2 D 3/2 states of Yb + are of interest for applications in metrology and quantum information and also act as dark states in laser cooling. These metastable states are commonly repumped to the ground state via the 638.6 nm 2 F 7/2 -1 D[5/2] 5/2 and 935.2 nm 2 D 3/2 -3 D[3/2] 1/2 transitions. We have performed optogalvanic spectroscopy of these transitions in Yb + ions generated in a discharge. We measure the pressure broadening coefficient for the 638.6 nm transition to be 70 ± 10 MHz mbar −1 . We place an upper bound of 375 MHz/nucleon on the 638.6 nm isotope splitting and show that our observations are consistent with theory for the hyperfine splitting. Our measurements of the 935.2 nm transition extend those made by Sugiyama et al., showing wellresolved isotope and hyperfine splitting (Sugiyama and Yoda in IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. 44: 140, 1995). We obtain high signal-to-noise, sufficient for laser stabilisation applications (Streed et al. in Appl. Phys. Lett. 93: 071103, 2008).

Wavelength scale imaging of trapped Ytterbium ions was demonstrated using a microfabricated phase Fresnel lens. Near diffraction-limited spot sizes of below 440 nm (FWHM) were achieved, an important precursor to efficient single-mode coupling.

We implement a mode-locked UV laser source at 300 MHz repetition rate for use in fast quantum logic gates with trapped ions. The architecture allows scaling of repetition rate into the GHz range.

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