nLab trapped-ion quantum computing

Idea

One way of realizing quantum computing-hardware is by using as qbits/qdits the electron quantum states in a bunch of individual atoms, and implementing quantum gates by laser pulses. For this to work the “bunch of atoms” needs to be fixed in place and possibly be shuttled around in a controlled way. One way to make this work is to ionize the atoms so that they are electrically charged, wherby they may be “trapped” in place by applying judicious external electric fields (often again with lasers).

This scheme of quantum computing on trapped ions was the context of the first-ever proposal [Cirac & Zoller 1995] for a realistic implementation of quantum gates, and is today among the most promising frameworks for larger-scale quantum computers (e.g. BCMS19).

References

The very first proposal for actual construction of a quantum gate (namely of a CNOT gate) was for a trapped-ion system:

• J. Ignacio Cirac, Peter Zoller: Quantum Computations with Cold Trapped Ions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74 (1995) 4091 [doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.4091]

Review of trapped-ion quantum computing:

• Colin D. Bruzewicz, John Chiaverini, Robert McConnell, Jeremy M. Sage: Trapped-Ion Quantum Computing: Progress and Challenges, Appl. Phys. Rev. 6 021314 (2019) [arXiv:1904.04178, doi:10.1063/1.5088164]

• Iulia Georgescu: Trapped ion quantum computing turns 25, Nat Rev Phys 2 278 (2020) [doi:10.1038/s42254-020-0189-1]

• Kenneth R. Brown, John Chiaverini, Jeremy M. Sage & Hartmut Häffner: Materials challenges for trapped-ion quantum computers, Nat Rev Mater 6 (2021) 892–905 [doi:10.1038/s41578-021-00292-1]

See also:

• Wikipedia: Trapped-ion quantum computer

Review of quantum simulation on trapped-ion hardware:

• Michael Foss-Feig, Guido Pagano, Andrew C. Potter, Norman Y. Yao: Progress in Trapped-Ion Quantum Simulation, Annual Reviews of Condensed Matter Physics (2024) [arXiv:2409.02990]

On quantum simulation of topological order and anyon braiding on trapped-ion hardware:

• Mohsin Iqbal, Nathanan Tantivasadakarn: Topological Order from Measurements and Feed-Forward on a Trapped Ion Quantum Computer, Nature Communications Physics 7 (2024) 205 [doi:10.1038/s42005-024-01698-3, arXiv:2302.01917]

• Mohsin Iqbal, Nathanan Tantivasadakarn, R. Verresen et al., Figure 5 in : Non-Abelian topological order and anyons on a trapped-ion processor, Nature 626 (2024) 505–511 [doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06934-4]