Reduction of trapped ion anomalous heating by in situ surface plasma cleaning

Anomalous motional heating is a major obstacle to scalable quantum information processing with trapped ions. While the source of this heating is not yet understood, several previous studies suggest that surface contaminants may be largely responsible. We demonstrate an improvement by a factor of four in the room-temperature heating rate of a niobium surface electrode trap by in situ plasma cleaning of the trap surface. This surface treatment was performed with a simple homebuilt coil assembly and commercially-available matching network and is considerably gentler than other treatments, such as ion milling or laser cleaning, that have previously been shown to improve ion heating rates. We do not see an improvement in the heating rate when the trap is operated at cryogenic temperatures, pointing to a role of thermally-activated surface contaminants in motional heating whose activity may freeze out at low temperatures.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Economic Contributions of the Yellowstone River to Park County, Montana

On August 19, 2016, Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) instituted a temporary emergency closure on a large extent of the Yellowstone River and its tributaries between the northern Yellowstone National Park boundary near Gardiner, MT and Laurel, MT, about 183 miles downriver. The closure applied to all water based recreation uses on the affected rivers and streams. FWP’s actions followed the identification of the presence of an invasive parasite known to cause proliferative kidney disease in mountain whitefish. FWP’s decision to institute the temporary closure was based not only on the observed presence of the parasite, but also a number of confounding conditions that may threaten longer term impacts if not effectively addressed. The temporary closure is likely to significantly impact both the recreational fishing and the guided river excursion industries, as August and September are both busy seasons. This white paper provides a summary of the contribution of water based activities (fishing, rafting, floating, canoeing, and kayaking) to the Montana economy in general, and a preliminary estimation of the potential impacts the 2-3 week Yellowstone closure had on the Park County economy

Using Tourism to Recruit New Business: Tourism’s Role in Economic Development

The purpose of this study is to unveil the additional benefits that tourism brings to the state beyond the direct spending of the visitor. To achieve this purpose, we draw on two separate survey efforts. The first, and primary, effort is an online survey of business owners and managers in Montana. The second survey is a random intercept of Montanans asking some similar questions regarding their perceived importance ratings of a variety of factors related to living in Montana and, if they own a business, to their decision to operate in the state. Quality of life, and in particular outdoor recreation and cost of living are among the most important factors contributing to business location decisions in Montana

A Longitudinal Study of Montanans’ Intrastate Travel Residents’ Monthly Reporting of Travel

The purpose of this report was to provide complementary data and information to the Resident Travel Study (Report 2018-6) by following a panel of 285 Montanans for the whole of 2017. This panel based study allowed for a deeper look at the traveling habits of the respondents through a series of monthly surveys administered online. This report highlights travel frequency, purpose, spending and destination characteristics

Visitor Characteristics and Economic Analysis of Northeast Montana

The northeast region of Montana receives by far the least amount of nonresident visitation to the state and is slowly losing population. While the oil boom related to the Bakken Shale improved the economic outlook for a few counties between 2010 and 2014, its sustainability as a consistent economic driver is questionable as demonstrated by the substantial drop in production since 2015 when oil prices globally declined. This paper reviews the current socioeconomic trends in northeast Montana - Montana’s Missouri River Country - in comparison to the state as a whole and identifies the current state of the counties in the region. Further, we identify where tourism fits into the region’s economy and suggest opportunities for its potential

Economics and Characteristics of Alpine Skiing in Montana - 2018-2019 Ski Season

Skier visits to Montana ski areas have seen year over year growth for the past four years and a generally positive trajectory for at least the past 30 years. This study surveyed skiers and snowboarders at 6 of Montana’s ski areas to collect information on skier demographics, characteristics, and spending behaviors. Montana ski areas as a whole are seeing increasing proportions of nonresident skiers. These skiers generated nearly $177 million in economic contribution and 1,970 jobs in the 2018/19 season

Analyzing Economic and Social Opportunities and Challenges Related to Bison Conservation in Northeast Montana

This report provides a review of the current socioeconomic trends in northeast Montana in comparison to the state as a whole, followed by an economic analysis of the potential impacts of an expanded recreation amenity. The amenity is characterized by a large, intact grassland prairie ecosystem replete with a large bison herd. Results suggest significant latent demand for nonresident visitation to the region. To begin to capture this demand and ensure continued vitality of other economic sectors will require collaborative efforts between conservation proponents, tourism professionals, and the community at large

Montana Tourism Trends and Forecasting

This report presents the development of a Montana tourism forecasting model. We forecast not only annual nonresident visitors to the state, but also forecast recreation visits to both Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. Monthly data between 1992 and 2014 are used in a General to Specific Modeling approach to establish regression coefficients that are then used to ex post forecast 2015-2017, and ex ante forecast 2018-2020 for Montana and 2018-2019 for the National Parks. The forecast models perform well and better than base comparisons using Naïve 1 and Naïve 2 methods as evaluated by Mean Absolute Percent Error (MAPE). Monthly forecasted values may be interactively viewed in relationship to previous years’ trends on ITRR’s interactive websites for Montana nonresident visitors and both National Parks

Insensitivity of the rate of ion motional heating to trap-electrode material over a large temperature range

We present measurements of trapped-ion motional-state heating rates in niobium and gold surface-electrode ion traps over a range of trap-electrode temperatures from approximately 4 K to room temperature (295 K) in a single apparatus.Using the sideband-ratio technique after resolved-sideband cooling of single ions to the motional ground state, we find low-temperature heating rates more than two orders of magnitude below the room-temperature values and approximately equal to the lowest measured heating rates in similarly sized cryogenic traps. We find similar behavior in the two very different electrode materials, suggesting that the anomalous heating process is dominated by non-material-specific surface contaminants. Through precise control of the temperature of cryopumping surfaces, we also identify conditions under which elastic collisions with the background gas can lead to an apparent steady heating rate, despite rare collisions.United States. Dept. of Defense. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering (United States. Air Force Contract FA8721-05-C-002