358 research outputs found
Phonon-phonon interactions due to non-linear effects in a linear ion trap
We examine in detail the theory of the intrinsic non-linearities in the
dynamics of trapped ions due to the Coulomb interaction. In particular the
possibility of mode-mode coupling, which can be a source of decoherence in
trapped ion quantum computation, or, alternatively, can be exploited for
parametric down-conversion of phonons, is discussed and conditions under which
such coupling is possible are derived.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figure
Two-dimensional spectroscopy for the study of ion coulomb crystals.
Ion Coulomb crystals are currently establishing themselves as a highly controllable test bed for mesoscopic systems of statistical mechanics. The detailed experimental interrogation of the dynamics of these crystals, however, remains an experimental challenge. In this work, we show how to extend the concepts of multidimensional nonlinear spectroscopy to the study of the dynamics of ion Coulomb crystals. The scheme we present can be realized with state-of-the-art technology and gives direct access to the dynamics, revealing nonlinear couplings even in the presence of thermal excitations. We illustrate the advantages of our proposal showing how two-dimensional spectroscopy can be used to detect signatures of a structural phase transition of the ion crystal, as well as resonant energy exchange between modes. Furthermore, we demonstrate in these examples how different decoherence mechanisms can be identified
Robust long-distance entanglement and a loophole-free Bell test with ions and photons
Two trapped ions that are kilometers apart can be entangled by the joint
detection of two photons, each coming from one of the ions, in a basis of
entangled states. Such a detection is possible with linear optical elements.
The use of two-photon interference allows entanglement distribution without
interferometric sensitivity to the path length of the photons. The present
method of creating entangled ions also opens up the possibility of a
loophole-free test of Bell's inequalities.Comment: published versio
Robust entanglement
It is common belief among physicists that entangled states of quantum systems
loose their coherence rather quickly. The reason is that any interaction with
the environment which distinguishes between the entangled sub-systems collapses
the quantum state. Here we investigate entangled states of two trapped Ca
ions and observe robust entanglement lasting for more than 20 seconds
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