We describe a scalable, high-speed, and robust architecture for measurement-based quantum-computing with trapped ions. Measurement-based architectures offer a way to speed-up operation of a quantum computer significantly by parallelizing the slow entangling operations and transferring the speed requirement to fast measurement of qubits. We show that a 3D cluster state suitable for fault-tolerant measurement-based quantum computing can be implemented on a 2D array of ion traps. We propose the projective measurement of ions via multi-photon photoionization for nanosecond operation and discuss the viability of such a scheme for Ca ions.
Measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC) represents a powerful and flexible framework for quantum information processing, based on the notion of entangled quantum states as computational resources. The most prominent application is the one-way quantum computer, with the cluster state as its universal resource. Here we demonstrate the principles of MBQC using deterministically generated graph states of up to 7 qubits, in a system of trapped atomic ions. Firstly we implement a universal set of operations for quantum computing. Secondly we demonstrate a family of measurement-based quantum error correction codes, and show their improved performance as the code length is increased. We show that all our graph states violate a multipartite Bell inequality and are therefore capable of information processing tasks that cannot be described by a local hidden variable model. The methods presented can directly be scaled up to generate graph states of several tens of qubits.
Many-body open quantum systems balance internal dynamics against decoherence from interactions with an environment. Here, we explore this balance via random quantum circuits implemented on a trapped ion quantum computer, where the system evolution is represented by unitary gates with interspersed projective measurements. As the measurement rate is varied, a purification phase transition is predicted to emerge at a critical point akin to a fault-tolerent threshold. We probe the pure phase, where the system is rapidly projected to a deterministic state conditioned on the measurement outcomes, and the mixed or coding phase, where the initial state becomes partially encoded into a quantum error correcting codespace. We find convincing evidence of the two phases and show numerically that, with modest system scaling, critical properties of the transition clearly emerge.
Among the various kinds of entangled states, the W state plays an important role as its entanglement is maximally persistent and robust even under particle loss. Such states are central as a resource in quantum information processing and multiparty quantum communication. Here we report the scalable and deterministic generation of four-, five-, six-, seven- and eight-particle entangled states of the W type with trapped ions. We obtain the maximum possible information on these states by performing full characterization via state tomography, using individual control and detection of the ions. A detailed analysis proves that the entanglement is genuine. The availability of such multiparticle entangled states, together with full information in the form of their density matrices, creates a test-bed for theoretical studies of multiparticle entanglement. Independently, -Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger- entangled states with up to six ions have been created and analysed in Boulder.
We study the speed/fidelity trade-off for a two-qubit phase gate implemented in $^{43}$Ca$^+$ hyperfine trapped-ion qubits. We characterize various error sources contributing to the measured fidelity, allowing us to account for errors due to single-qubit state preparation, rotation and measurement (each at the $sim0.1%$ level), and to identify the leading sources of error in the two-qubit entangling operation. We achieve gate fidelities ranging between $97.1(2)%$ (for a gate time $t_g=3.8mu$s) and $99.9(1)%$ (for $t_g=100mu$s), representing respectively the fastest and lowest-error two-qubit gates reported between trapped-ion qubits by nearly an order of magnitude in each case.
We examine the viability of quantum repeaters based on two-species trapped ion modules for long distance quantum key distribution. Repeater nodes comprised of ion-trap modules of co-trapped ions of distinct species are considered. The species used for communication qubits has excellent optical properties while the other longer lived species serves as a memory qubit in the modules. Each module interacts with the network only via single photons emitted by the communication ions. Coherent Coulomb interaction between ions is utilized to transfer quantum information between the communication and memory ions and to achieve entanglement swapping between two memory ions. We describe simple modular quantum repeater architectures realizable with the ion-trap modules and numerically study the dependence of the quantum key distribution rate on various experimental parameters, including coupling efficiency, gate infidelity, operation time and length of the elementary links. Our analysis suggests crucial improvements necessary in a physical implementation for co-trapped two-species ions to be a competitive platform in long-distance quantum communication.