Quantum Control of Trapped Rydberg Ions

• Grant number: 22/06449-9
• Support Opportunities: Generation Program Research Grant
• Duration: April 01, 2023 - March 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Atomic and Molecular Physics
• Principal Investigator: André Cidrim Santos
• Grantee: André Cidrim Santos
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Alan Costa dos Santos ; Ana Maria Rey ; Celso Jorge Villas-Bôas ; Markus Thomas Hennrich ; Patrícia Christina Marques Castilho ; Romain Pierre Marcel Bachelard ; Tommaso Macri
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/07463-8 - Quantum control of trapped Rydberg ions, BP.GR

Abstract

This project aims at investigating the promising novel platform of trapped Rydberg ions for applications in quantum technologies. Recent experiments introduced this platform as hybrid systems, merging the best of two worlds: fast entangling operations, when exploring strong dipole-dipole interactions of Rydberg excitations, and high-fidelity gates when dealing with the collective motional modes of the trapped ions. However, in order to make the most out of the platform, the significantly different time scales involved in the fast dynamics of highly-excited internal electronic states and the slow collective motional dynamics must be made commensurate. We will thus demonstrate how one can harness the effects of the huge Rydberg-ion polarizabilities on the collective motion to achieve a coherent control required for multi-ion entangling operations. The influence of Rydberg excitations will be further investigated in the limit over which motional excitations can be treated locally, opening the possibilities for the observation of quantum many-body phenomena, using the platform as a quantum simulator. The interplay of the strong dipolar interactions with motional coupling is also expected to act on how these atomic systems scatter light collectively, affecting the coherence times for computing operations. Thus the influence of Rydberg excitations of the ions on the phenomena of superradiance and subradiance will be investigated. Given the importance of extending coherence times, we finally analyze a way to substantially improve Rydberg-ion platforms using, instead of the commonly excited low-angular momenta states, long-lived circular Rydberg states. (AU)