Observation of collisions between cold Li atoms and Yb+^+ ions

We report on the observation of cold collisions between $^6$Li atoms and Yb$^+$ ions. This combination of species has recently been proposed as the most suitable for reaching the quantum limit in hybrid atom-ion systems, due to its large mass ratio. For atoms and ions prepared in the $^2S_{1/2}$ ground state, the charge transfer and association rate is found to be at least~10$^{3}$ times smaller than the Langevin collision rate. These results confirm the excellent prospects of $^6$Li--Yb$^+$ for sympathetic cooling and quantum information applications. For ions prepared in the excited electronic states $^2P_{1/2}$, $^2D_{3/2}$ and $^2F_{7/2}$, we find that the reaction rate is dominated by charge transfer and does not depend on the ionic isotope nor the collision energy in the range $\sim$~1--120~mK. The low charge transfer rate for ground state collisions is corroborated by theory, but the $4f$ shell in the Yb$^+$ ion prevents an accurate prediction for the charge transfer rate of the $^2P_{1/2}$, $^2D_{3/2}$ and $^2F_{7/2}$ states. Using \textit{ab initio} methods of quantum chemistry we calculate the atom-ion interaction potentials up to energies of 30$\times 10^3$~cm$^{-1}$, and use these to give qualitative explanations of the observed rates.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures (including appendices

Resonant tunneling in Y(Dy)Ba2Cu3O7−δ/PrBa2Cu3−xGaxO7−δ/Y(Dy)Ba2Cu3O7−δ ramp-type Josephson junctions

We have investigated both experimentally and theoretically the normal state resistance and Josephson critical current of ramp-type Josephson junctions having YBCO (DyBCO) electrodes and 8–30 nm thick Ga-doped barriers PrBa2Cu3−xGaxO7−δ with Ga content x = 0, 0.05 and 0.1. Analysis of the data shows that the behavior of the junctions can be well described by the model assuming transport through a finite number of localized states in the barrier

Rydberg excitation of a single trapped ion

We demonstrate excitation of a single trapped cold $^{40}$Ca$^+$ ion to Rydberg levels by laser radiation in the vacuum-ultraviolet at 122 nm wavelength. Observed resonances are identified as 3d$^2$D$_{3/2}$ to 51 F, 52 F and 3d$^2$D$_{5/2}$ to 64F. We model the lineshape and our results imply a large state-dependent coupling to the trapping potential. Rydberg ions are of great interest for future applications in quantum computing and simulation, in which large dipolar interactions are combined with the superb experimental control offered by Paul traps.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Quantum Simulation of Quantum Field Theories in Trapped Ions

We propose the quantum simulation of a fermion and an antifermion field modes interacting via a bosonic field mode, and present a possible implementation with two trapped ions. This quantum platform allows for the scalable add-up of bosonic and fermionic modes, and represents an avenue towards quantum simulations of quantum field theories in perturbative and nonperturbative regimes.Comment: To be published in Physical Review Letter

Phonon-mediated spin-spin interactions between trapped Rydberg atoms

We theoretically investigate the possibility of creating phonon-mediated spin-spin interactions between neutral atoms trapped in optical tweezers. By laser coupling the atoms to Rydberg states, collective modes of motion appear. We show that these can be used to mediate effective spin-spin interactions or quantum logic gates between the atoms in analogy to schemes employed in trapped ions. In particular, we employ Rydberg dressing in a novel scheme to induce the needed interaction, and we show that it is possible to replicate the working of the M{\o}lmer-S{\o}rensen entanglement scheme. The M{\o}lmer-S{\o}rensen gate is widely used in emerging quantum computers using trapped ion qubits and currently features some of the highest fidelities of any quantum gate under consideration. We find arbitrarily high fidelity for the coherent time evolution of the two-atom state even at non-zero temperature.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

On Nonlinear Bosonic Coherent States

Nonlinear coherent states are an interesting resource for quantum technologies. Here we investigate some critical features of the single-boson nonlinear coherent states, which are theoretically constructed as eigenstates of the annihilation operator and experimentally realized as stationary states of a trapped laser-driven ion. We show that the coherence and the minimum-uncertainty properties of such states are broken for values of the Lamb-Dicke parameter corresponding to the roots of the Laguerre polynomials, which enter their explicit expression. The case of the multiboson nonlinear coherent states is also discussed.Comment: published versio