Research Overview

Since the advent of quantum information science as a theoretical endeavor atomic ions have gained popularity as a natural platform for quantum state engineering. One drawback of the technology is that the process of state detection is inefficient.

The Modular Universal Scalable Ion-trap Quantum Computer (MUSIQC) Program is a soon-to-be concluded collaborative effort to develop technologies in order to scale an ion-trap quantum computer. The modular vision of a largescale quantum computer consists of elementary logic units (ELUs) linked together by optical connections. Each ELU will have some qubit resources devoted to processing tasks while other qubits are devoted to communication links.

Fast and efficient photo-detectors for high intensities of light are readily available and used widely in a range of scientific applications. As the intensity of light decreases to extremely low levels, ultimately to single quantized packets of light called photons, detection is realized by specialized devices that often must make a compromise between important characteristics such as high efficiency, high timing resolution, low dark counts, and fast recovery time.

Current implementations of ion-trap quanutm computing are hindered by the need for bulky vacuum chambers, large RF helical resonators and non-scalable free space optics which must accomany a single ion trap processing unit. This project aims to rethink ion trap infrastructure from the ground up for scalability, standardization, and ease of use.

The PIVOT project packages a trap under ultra-high vacuum conditions after a surface cleaning procedure, an indium seal maintains the vacuum level, while alleviating the need to keep the external sample chamber UHV clean.

Quantum performance simulators can provide practical metrics for the effectiveness of executing theoretical quantum information processing protocols on physical hardware. We made a scheme to simulate the performance of fault tolerant quantum computation by automating the tracking of common fault paths for error propagation through a circuit and quantifying the fidelity of each qubit throughout the computation.

The Scalable Platform for agule extended-reach quantum communications (SPARQC) program is an effort to make a Quantum repeater node. A quantum repeater node is a scheme for entanglement distriution over a large geographic area. The best comparison to this technology is a quantum enabled amplifier. The comparison to amplifiers is appropraite not because the quantum signal is made larger (this is forbiden by the no-cloning theorem), but rather becasue it solves the same problem: signal attenuation with distance, that a classical amplifier does. 

In the realm of quantum mechanics some very interesting phenomena are permitted such as superposition, entanglement, and even quantum teleportation. While the term “quantum teleportation” may sound like something from a sci-fi novel, this is a process can actually be implemented in the lab. Consider Alice and Bob have two quantum systems, such as a trapped ion or a photon, and Alice wants to imprint the state of her system on to Bob’s system.