Motional Squeezing for Trapped Ion Transport and Separation.

Area of Science:

• Quantum Information Science
• Atomic Physics
• Quantum Computing

Background:

• Trapped ion crystals are fundamental to quantum computing architectures.
• Efficient transport, separation, and merging of these ions are critical operations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a theoretical framework for ion dynamics in time-varying potentials.
• To introduce a general protocol for trapped ion manipulation using motional squeezing and displacement operators.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a theoretical framework incorporating motional squeeze and displacement operators.
• Applied the framework to analyze ion dynamics under time-varying harmonic potentials.
• Illustrated the protocol with specific operations like changing potential strength and ion separation.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated that motional squeezing prepares ion wave packets for efficient state transfer between potentials.
• Developed a general protocol applicable to harmonic potentials.
• Showcased ideal operations free of residual motional excitation for single-ion and multi-ion systems.

Conclusions:

• The developed framework and protocol offer a robust method for precise trapped ion manipulation.
• This approach is crucial for advancing large-scale trapped ion quantum computing.
• The protocol's ability to minimize motional excitation enhances quantum state fidelity.