Experiments towards quantum information with trapped Calcium ions

Ground state cooling and coherent manipulation of ions in an rf-(Paul) trap is the prerequisite for quantum information experiments with trapped ions. With resolved sideband cooling on the optical S1/2 - D5/2 quadrupole transition we have cooled one and two 40Ca+ ions to the ground state of vibration with up to 99.9% probability. With a novel cooling scheme utilizing electromagnetically induced transparency on the S1/2 - P1/2 manifold we have achieved simultaneous ground state cooling of two motional sidebands 1.7 MHz apart. Starting from the motional ground state we have demonstrated coherent quantum state manipulation on the S1/2 - D5/2 quadrupole transition at 729 nm. Up to 30 Rabi oscillations within 1.4 ms have been observed in the motional ground state and in the n=1 Fock state. In the linear quadrupole rf-trap with 700 kHz trap frequency along the symmetry axis (2 MHz in radial direction) the minimum ion spacing is more than 5 micron for up to 4 ions. We are able to cool two ions to the ground state in the trap and individually address the ions with laser pulses through a special optical addressing channel.Comment: Proceedings of the ICAP 2000, Firenz

Coupling a single atomic quantum bit to a high finesse optical cavity

The quadrupole S$_{1/2}$ -- D$_{5/2}$ optical transition of a single trapped Ca$^+$ ion, well suited for encoding a quantum bit of information, is coherently coupled to the standing wave field of a high finesse cavity. The coupling is verified by observing the ion's response to both spatial and temporal variations of the intracavity field. We also achieve deterministic coupling of the cavity mode to the ion's vibrational state by selectively exciting vibrational state-changing transitions and by controlling the position of the ion in the standing wave field with nanometer-precision

Precision measurement and compensation of optical Stark shifts for an ion-trap quantum processor

Using optical Ramsey interferometry, we precisely measure the laser-induced AC-stark shift on the $S_{1/2}$ -- $D_{5/2}$ "quantum bit" transition near 729 nm in a single trapped $^{40}$Ca$^+$ ion. We cancel this shift using an additional laser field. This technique is of particular importance for the implementation of quantum information processing with cold trapped ions. As a simple application we measure the atomic phase evolution during a $n \times 2\pi$ rotation of the quantum bit.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Quantum interference from remotely trapped ions

We observe quantum interference of photons emitted by two continuously laser-excited single ions, independently trapped in distinct vacuum vessels. High contrast two-photon interference is observed in two experiments with different ion species, calcium and barium. Our experimental findings are quantitatively reproduced by Bloch equation calculations. In particular, we show that the coherence of the individual resonance fluorescence light field is determined from the observed interference

Ground state cooling, quantum state engineering and study of decoherence of ions in Paul traps

We investigate single ions of $^{40}Ca^+$ in Paul traps for quantum information processing. Superpositions of the S$_{1/2}$ electronic ground state and the metastable D$_{5/2}$ state are used to implement a qubit. Laser light on the S$_{1/2} \leftrightarrow$ D$_{5/2}$ transition is used for the manipulation of the ion's quantum state. We apply sideband cooling to the ion and reach the ground state of vibration with up to 99.9% probability. Starting from this Fock state $|n=0>$, we demonstrate coherent quantum state manipulation. A large number of Rabi oscillations and a ms-coherence time is observed. Motional heating is measured to be as low as one vibrational quantum in 190 ms. We also report on ground state cooling of two ions.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures. submitted to Journal of Modern Optics, Special Issue on Quantum Optics: Kuehtai 200

Laser ablation loading of a surface-electrode ion trap

We demonstrate loading by laser ablation of $^{88}$Sr$^+$ ions into a mm-scale surface-electrode ion trap. The laser used for ablation is a pulsed, frequency-tripled Nd:YAG with pulse energies of 1-10 mJ and durations of 3-5 ns. An additional laser is not required to photoionize the ablated material. The efficiency and lifetime of several candidate materials for the laser ablation target are characterized by measuring the trapped ion fluorescence signal for a number of consecutive loads. Additionally, laser ablation is used to load traps with a trap depth (40 meV) below where electron impact ionization loading is typically successful ($\gtrsim$ 500 meV).Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

All-optical ion generation for ion trap loading

We have investigated the all-optical generation of ions by photo-ionisation of atoms generated by pulsed laser ablation. A direct comparison between a resistively heated oven source and pulsed laser ablation is reported. Pulsed laser ablation with 10 ns Nd:YAG laser pulses is shown to produce large calcium flux, corresponding to atomic beams produced with oven temperatures greater than 650 K. For an equivalent atomic flux, pulsed laser ablation is shown to produce a thermal load more than one order of magnitude smaller than the oven source. The atomic beam distributions obey Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics with most probable speeds corresponding to temperatures greater than 2200 K. Below a threshold pulse fluence between 280 mJ/cm^2 and 330 mJ/cm^2, the atomic beam is composed exclusively of ground state atoms. For higher fluences ions and excited atoms are generated.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure

Vertical profile of peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) from MIPAS-STR measurements over Brazil in February 2005 and its contribution to tropical UT NOy partitioning

We report on the retrieval of PAN (CH₃C(O)OONO₂) in the upper tropical troposphere from limb measurements by the remote-sensor MIPAS-STR on board the Russian high altitude research aircraft M55-Geophysica. The measurements were performed close to Araçatuba, Brazil, on 17 February 2005. The retrieval was made in the spectral range 775–820 cm^&minus;1 where PAN exhibits its strongest feature but also more than 10 species interfere. Especially trace gases such as CH₃CCl₃, CFC-113, CFC-11, and CFC-22, emitting also in spectrally broad not-resolved branches, make the processing of PAN prone to errors. Therefore, the selection of appropriate spectral windows, the separate retrieval of several interfering species and the careful handling of the water vapour profile are part of the study presented. <br><br> The retrieved profile of PAN has a maximum of about 0.14 ppbv at 10 km altitude, slightly larger than the lowest reported values (&lt;0.1 ppbv) and much lower than the highest reported in the literature (0.65 ppbv). Besides the NO_y constituents measured by MIPAS-STR (HNO₃, ClONO₂, HO₂NO₂, PAN), the in situ instruments aboard the Geophysica provide simultaneous measurements of NO, NO₂, and the sum NO_y. Comparing the sum of in-situ and remotely derived NO+NO₂+HNO₃+ClONO₂+HO₂NO₂+PAN with total NO_y a deficit of 30–40% (0.2–0.3 ppbv) in the troposphere remains unexplained whereas the values fit well in the stratosphere