Rapid Control of Quantum Motion with Trapped Rydberg Ions

Quantum information processing is a rapidly developing field of research with a large variety of applications ranging from powerful quantum algorithms to simulations of complex quantum systems.

Several technologies are used for quantum calculations, such as Rydberg atoms, superconducting devices, and trapped ions.Trapped ions are one of the furthest developed platforms for quantum computation.

They have set several benchmarks compared to other quantum computing technologies.When excitation trapped ions into high electronic orbitals, so-called Rydberg states, the ions gain special properties with specific advantages for realizing a quantum computer.

Quantum gates can be operated with Megahertz speed via dipolar interaction, significantly faster than current trapped ion technology. This makes it an appealing extension for a trapped ion quantum computer.

This has been investigated in a previous project funded by VR.In this project, we will go one step further and explore the particularly high polarizability of trapped Rydberg ions for realizing an extremely strong coupling between the ions’ internal and external quantum degrees of freedom.

In particular, we will harness this strong ion-motion coupling for realizing novel quantum phase transition, quantum simulations of molecular dynamics and for implementing fast quantum operations.

This research enables a novel toolbox for enhanced quantum simulation and quantum computation in a trapped ion quantum processor.