Surface science for improved ion traps

Published

September 30, 2013

Author(s)

David P. Pappas, Dustin Hite, Andrew C. Wilson, David T. Allcock, David J. Wineland, Dietrich Leibfried, Yves Colombe

Abstract

Trapped ions are sensitive to electric-field noise from trap-electrode surfaces. This noise has been an obstacle to progress in trapped-ion quantum information processing (QIP) experiments for more than a decade. It causes motional heating of the ions, and thus quantum-state decoherence. This heating is anomalous because it is not easily explained by typical technical-noise sources. Experimental evidence of its dependence on ion-electrode distance, frequency, and electrode temperature points to the surface, rather than the bulk, of the trap electrodes as the origin. In this article, we review experimental efforts and models to help identify and reduce or eliminate the source of the anomalous heating. Recent progress to reduce the heating with in situ cleaning indicates that it may not be a fundamental limit to trapped-ion QIP. Moreover, the extreme sensitivity of trapped ions to electric- field noise may potentially be used as a new tool in surface science.

Citation

Mrs Bulletin

Volume

38

Issue

10

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2013.207

Local Download

Keywords

Au, surface contamination, Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), sputtering, metallic conductor, electric-field noise, ion-solid interactions.

Citation

Pappas, D. , Hite, D. , Wilson, A. , Allcock, D. , Wineland, D. , Leibfried, D. and Colombe, Y. (2013), Surface science for improved ion traps, Mrs Bulletin, [online], https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2013.207, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=914178 (Accessed October 16, 2025)