Detection and Control of Individual Trapped Ions and Neutral Atoms.

Abstract

Significant interest and effort have been devoted to using quantum mechanics in order to perform quantum computations or model quantum mechanical systems. Using trapped atomic ions as the building block for a quantum information processor has found notable success, but important questions remain about methods for achieving acceptable error rates in qubit measurement and entanglement production as well as increasing the number of controlled qubits. In this work we present a detailed discussion of qubit measurement on trapped ions using a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. We discuss extending this measurement and control to larger numbers of qubits through the use of a multi-zone trap array capable of physically transporting and re-arranging ion qubits. Moreover, we propose a new direction for quantum information research through the first confinement of neutral Cadmium atoms and its implications for future work in coherent quantum information transfer and processing.