Ion trap networking: Cold, fast, and small
A large-scale ion trap quantum computer will require low-noise entanglement schemes and methods for networking ions between different regions. We report work on both fronts, with the entanglement of two trapped cadmium ions following a phase-insensitive Molmer-Sorensen quantum gate, the entanglement between a single ion and a single photon, and the development of advanced ion traps at the micrometer scale, including the first ion trap integrated on a semiconductor chip. We additionally report progress on the interaction of ultrafast resonant laser pulses with cold trapped ions. This includes fast Rabi oscillations on optical S-P transitions and broadband laser cooling, where the pulse laser bandwidth is much larger than the atomic linewidth. With these fast laser pulses, we also have developed a new method for precision measurement of excited state lifetimes.
