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At least 55 records · Page 3

Modeling noise in global Mølmer-Sørensen interactions applied to quantum approximate optimization

Many-qubit Mølmer-Sørensen (MS) interactions applied to trapped ions offer unique capabilities for quantum information processing, with applications including quantum simulation and the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA). Here, we develop a physical model to describe many-qubit MS interactions under four sources of experimental noise: vibrational mode frequency fluctuations, laser power fluctuations, thermal initial vibrational states, and state preparation and measurement errors. The model parametrizes these errors from simple experimental measurements, without free parameters. Herein, we validate the model in comparison with experiments that implement sequences of MS interactions on two 171 Yb + ions. The model shows reasonable agreement after several MS interactions as quantified by the reduced chi-squared statistic $χ^{2}_{red}$≈2. As an application we examine MaxCut QAOA experiments on three and six ions. The experimental performance is quantified by approximation ratios that are 91% and 83% of the optimal theoretical values. Our model predicts $0.93^{+0.03}_{-0.02}$ and $0.95^{+0.04}_{-0.03}$, respectively, with disagreement in the latter value attributable to secondary noise sources beyond those considered in our analysis. With realistic experimental improvements to reduce measurement error and radial trap frequency variations, the model achieves approximation ratios that are 99% of the optimal. Incorporating these improvements into future experiments is expected to reveal new aspects of noise for future modeling and experimental improvements.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Equilibration of the planar modes of ultracold two-dimensional ion crystals in a Penning trap

In this work, planar thermal equilibration is studied using direct numerical simulations of ultracold two-dimensional ion crystals in a Penning trap with a rotating wall. The large magnetic field of the trap splits the modes that describe in-plane motion of the ions into two branches: high-frequency cyclotron modes dominated by kinetic energy and low-frequency E × B modes dominated by potential energy associated with thermal position displacements. Using an eigenmode analysis we extract the equilibration rate between these two branches as a function of the ratio of the frequencies that characterize the two branches and observe this equilibration rate to be exponentially suppressed as the ratio increases. Under experimental conditions relevant for current work at NIST, the predicted equilibration time is orders of magnitude longer than any relevant experimental timescales. We also study the coupling rate dependence on the initial energy of the planar modes and the number of ions. In addition, we show how increasing the rotating wall strength improves crystal stability. These details of in-plane mode dynamics help set the stage for developing strategies to efficiently cool the in-plane modes and improve the performance of single plane ion crystals for quantum information processing.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Octet: A coherent qubit control system for trapped-ion quantum computers

This is firmware and software designed for a Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC chip made by Xilinx, specifically targeted to laser-based individual addressing of trapped ion qubits via a multi-channel AOM. The design features 8 dual-tone outputs with frequencies up to 409 MHz that can be controlled statically or dynamically via on-chip cubic spline interpolation engines that allow one to generate sequences of output waveforms with fast modulation of frequency, phase, amplitude, and z-rotations that are smooth/discrete and can run simultaneously across all parameters/tones. It also features global phase alignment on all tones regardless of frequency and the ability to return to a known phase/frequency at any later time on a per-tone basis without the need for manual bookkeeping. Acoustic and optical cross-talk can also be destructively canceled by adding neighboring outputs with variable amplitude/phase/delay. Each tone can be optionally frequency locked to an external RF source. SAND2020-12703 M Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Lobser, Daniel↗

Drift kinetic theory of the NTM magnetic islands in a finite beta general geometry tokamak plasma

In (Imada et al 2019 Nucl. Fusion 59 046016 and references therein) a new 4D drift kinetic nonlinear theory, valid in the limit of a low beta, small inverse aspect ratio, circular cross section, toroidal geometry, to describe the plasma response to the neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) magnetic perturbation is derived. In (Dudkovskaia et al 2021 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 63 054001) this theory is reduced in a low collisionality limit, which allows a dimensionality reduction to a 3D problem to efficiently resolve the collisional dissipation layer in the vicinity of the trapped-passing boundary. (Dudkovskaia et al 2021 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 63 054001) adopts an improved model for the magnetic drift frequency, which reduces the threshold magnetic island half-width from $8.73\rho_{b i}$, where $\rho_{b i}$ is the trapped ion banana orbit width, to $1.46 \rho_{b i}$, making it in closer agreement with experimental observations for the large aspect ratio tokamak equilibrium. In the present paper, the theory is extended to a high beta, arbitrary tokamak geometry to capture the plasma shaping effects on the NTM threshold physics with the focus on the non-zero triangularity discharges that are known to have a strong impact on the plasma MHD stability. First, it is found that the higher triangularity plasma is more prone to NTMs which is in agreement with the 2/1 tearing mode onset relative frequency measurements in DIII-D. Second, the NTM threshold dependence on the tokamak inverse aspect ratio obtained in (Dudkovskaia et al 2021 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 63 054001) is refined and extended to a finite aspect ratio limit. Third, the NTM threshold dependence on poloidal beta is obtained and benchmarked against the EAST threshold island width measurements.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Probing many-body localization on a noisy quantum computer

A disordered quantum system of interacting particles exhibits localized behavior when the disorder is large compared to the interaction strength. Studying this phenomenon on a quantum computer with no, or limited, error correction is challenging because even weak coupling to a thermal environment destroys most signatures of localization. Fortunately, spectral functions of local operators are known to contain features that can survive the presence of noise. In these spectra, discrete peaks and a soft gap at low frequencies compared to the thermal phase indicate localization. Here, we present the computation of spectral functions on a trapped-ion quantum computer for a one-dimensional Heisenberg model with disorder. Further, we design an error-mitigation technique which is effective at removing the noise from the measurement allowing clear signatures of localization to emerge as the disorder increases. Furthermore, we show that spectral functions can serve as a robust and scalable diagnostic of many-body localization on current and future generations of quantum computers.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

In situ detection of RF breakdown on microfabricated surface ion traps

We report microfabricated surface ion traps are a principal component of many ion-based quantum information science platforms. The operational parameters of these devices are pushed to the edge of their physical capabilities as the experiments strive for increasing performance. When the applied radio-frequency (RF) voltage is increased excessively, the devices can experience damaging electric discharge events known as RF breakdown. We introduce two novel techniques for in situ detection of RF breakdown, which we implemented while characterizing the breakdown threshold of surface ion traps produced at Sandia National Laboratories. In these traps, breakdown did not always occur immediately after increasing the RF voltage, but often minutes or even hours later. This result is surprising in the context of the suggested mechanisms for RF breakdown in vacuum. Additionally, the extent of visible damage caused by breakdown events increased with the applied voltage. To minimize the probability for damage when RF power is first applied to a device, our results strongly suggest that the voltage should be ramped up over the course of several hours and monitored for breakdown.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Trapped-ion entangling gates with bichromatic pair of microwave fields and magnetic field gradient

A trapped-ion quantum logic gate and a method of operating the trapped-ion quantum logic gate are provided. The trapped-ion quantum logic gate includes at least one ion having two internal states and forming a qubit having a qubit transition frequency ω 0 0, a magnetic field gradient, and two microwave fields. Each of the two microwave fields has a respective frequency that is detuned from the qubit transition frequency ω 0 by frequency difference δ. The at least one ion has a Rabi frequency Ω μ due to the two microwave fields and a Rabi frequency Ω g due to the magnetic field gradient. The method includes applying the magnetic field gradient and the two microwave fields to the at least one ion such that a quantity Ω g /δ is in a range between zero and 5×10 −2 .

Sutherland, Robert Tyler↗

High-Fidelity Bell-State Preparation with 40 Ca + Optical Qubits

Entanglement generation in trapped-ion systems has relied thus far on two distinct but related geometric phase gate techniques: Mølmer-Sørensen and light-shift gates. We recently proposed a variant of the light-shift scheme where the qubit levels are separated by an optical frequency [B. C. Sawyer and K. R. Brown, Phys. Rev. A 103, 022427 (2021)]. Here, in this study, we report an experimental demonstration of this entangling gate using a pair of 40 Ca + ions in a cryogenic surface-electrode ion trap and a commercial, high-power, 532 nm Nd:YAG laser. Generating a Bell state in 35 μs, we directly measure an infidelity of 6(3) × 10 −4 without subtraction of experimental errors. The 532 nm gate laser wavelength suppresses intrinsic photon scattering error to ∼1 × 10 −5 .

Clark, Craig R.↗

Precise $\textit{Q}$-value measurements of 112,113 Ag and 115 Cd with the Canadian Penning trap for evaluation of potential ultralow $\textit{Q}$-value $\textit{β}$ decays

Background: An ultralow $\textit{Q}$-value $\textit{β}$ decay can occur from a parent nuclide to an excited nuclear state in the daughter such that $Q_{\text{UL}}$ 1 keV. These decay processes are of interest for nuclear $\textit{β}$-decay theory and as potential candidates in neutrino mass determination experiments. To date, only one ultralow $\textit{Q}$-value $\textit{β}$ decay has been observed—that of 115 In with $Q_β$ = 147(10) eV. A number of other potential candidates exist, but improved mass measurements are necessary to determine if these decay channels are energetically allowed and, in fact, ultralow. Purpose: To perform precise $\textit{β}$-decay $\textit{Q}$-value measurements of 112,113 Ag and 115 Cd and to use them in combination with nuclear energy level data for the daughter isotopes 112,113 Cd and 115 In to determine if the potential ultralow $\textit{Q}$-value $\textit{β}$-decay branches of 112,113 Ag and 115 Cd are energetically allowed and 1 keV. Method: The Canadian Penning Trap at Argonne National Laboratory was used to measure the cyclotron frequency ratios of singly charged 112,113 Ag and 115 Cd ions with respect to their daughters 112,113 Cd and 115 In. From these measurements, the ground-state to ground-state $\textit{β}$-decay $\textit{Q}$ values were obtained. Results: The 112 Ag → 112 Cd, 113 Ag → 113 Cd, and 115 Cd → 115 In $\textit{β}$-decay $\textit{Q}$ values were measured to be $Q_β$( 112 Ag) = 3990.16(22) keV, $Q_β$( 113 Ag) = 2085.7(4.6) keV, and $Q_β$( 115 Cd) = 1451.36(34) keV. These results were compared to energies of excited states in 112 Cd at 3997.75(14) keV, 113 Cd at 2015.6(2.5) and 2080(10) keV, and 115 In at 1448.787(9) keV, resulting in precise $Q_{\text{UL}}$ values for the potential decay channels of –7.59(26) keV, 6(11) keV, and 2.57(34) keV, respectively. Conclusion: The potential ultralow $\textit{Q}$-value decays of 112 Ag and 115 Cd have been ruled out. 113 Ag is still a possible candidate until a more precise measurement of the 2080(10) keV, 1/2+ state of 113 Cd is available. In the course of this work we have found the ground state mass of 113 Ag reported in the 2020 Atomic Mass Evaluation [Wang et al., Chin. Phys. C 45, 030003 (2021)] to be lower than our measurement by 69(17) keV (a 4σ discrepancy).

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Normal modes, rotational inertia, and thermal fluctuations of trapped ion crystals

The normal modes of a trapped ion crystal are derived using an approach based on the Hermitian properties of the system’s dynamical matrix. This method is equivalent to the standard Bogoliubov method, but for classical systems it is arguably simpler and more general in that canonical coordinates are not necessary. The theory is developed for stable, unstable, and neutrally-stable systems. The method is then applied to ion crystals in a Penning trap. Reduced eigenvalue problems for the case of large applied magnetic field are developed, for which the spectrum breaks into E x B drift modes, axial modes, and cyclotron modes. Thermal fluctuation levels in these modes are analyzed and shown to be consistent with the Bohr-van-Leeuwen theorem, provided that neutrally-stable modes associated with crystal rotations are included in the analysis. An expression for the rotational inertia of the crystal is derived, and a magnetic contribution to this inertia, which dominates in large magnetic fields, is described. An unusual limit is discovered for the special case of spherically-symmetric confinement, in which the rotational inertia does not exist and changes in angular momentum leave the rotation frequency unaffected.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Photon-mediated entanglement scheme between a ZnO semiconductor defect and a trapped Yb ion

We propose an optical scheme to generate an entangled state between a trapped ion and a solid state donor qubit through which-path erasure of identical photons emitted from the two systems. The proposed scheme leverages the similar transition frequencies between In donor bound excitons in ZnO and the 2 P 1/2 to 2 S 1/2 transition in Yb+. The lifetime of the relevant ionic state is longer than that of the ZnO system by a factor of 6, leading to a mismatch in the temporal profiles of emitted photons. A detuned cavity-assisted Raman scheme weakly excites the donor with a shaped laser pulse to generate photons with a 0.99 temporal overlap to the Yb+ emission and partially shift the emission of the defect toward the Yb+ transition. Here, the remaining photon shift is accomplished via the dc Stark effect. We show that an entanglement rate of 2.1 × 10 4 s –1 and an entanglement fidelity of 94% can be attained using a weak excitation scheme with reasonable parameters.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Microfabricated Ion Traps on Sapphire for Larger Trap Areas and Higher Qubit Count

Surface ion traps are a promising platform for quantum computing due to their potential to store large numbers of ions that can be addressed by electrical and optical control signals in order to implement quantum algorithms. Increasing the power of the quantum computer requires increasing the number of ions, but this poses a significant challenge in that it leads to a non-linear increase in on-chip power dissipation. The primary contributor to this power scaling in current devices is the capacitance between the radio frequency (RF) electrode and the metal plane that shields the silicon substrate from the RF signals applied to it. Silicon has traditionally been chosen for the substrate material for compatibility with the processing required for multi-metal-level traps. In this work, we address these capacitance and fabrication challenges by replacing the commonly used silicon substrate with an insulating sapphire substrate to fabricate a multi-metal-level ion trap, while still employing common semiconductor manufacturing techniques. This change in substrate allows the design to remove the metal shielding from the device design, reducing the capacitance of the RF electrode. The electrical characteristics of these traps were measured, specifically trap impedance, capacitance, and voltage breakdown, and compared to nearly identical silicon trap devices. Finally, we used laser cutting techniques to shape a sapphire wafer into bowtie shapes matching silicon traps previously fabricated at Sandia National Labs to explore solutions for integrating sapphire substrates into non-rectangular ion trap designs.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Global gyrokinetic simulations of electrostatic microturbulent transport in LHD stellarator with boron impurity

Abstract Global gyrokinetic simulations of electrostatic microturbulent transport for discharge # 166256 of the Large Helical Device stellarator in the presence of boron impurity show the co-existence of the ion temperature gradient (ITG) turbulence and trapped electron mode (TEM) turbulence before and during boron powder injection. ITG turbulence dominates in the core, whereas TEM dominates near the edge, consistent with the experimental observations. Linear TEM frequency increases from ∼ 80 kHz to ∼ 100 kHz during boron injection, and ITG frequency decreases from ∼ 20 kHz to ∼ 13 kHz, consistent with the experiments. The poloidal wave number spectrum is broad for both ITG (0–0.5 mm −1 ) and TEM (0–0.25 mm −1 ). The nonlinear simulations with boron impurity show a reduction in the heat conductivity compared to the case without boron. The comparison of the nonlinear transport before and during boron injection shows that the ion heat transport is substantially reduced in the region where the TEM is dominant. However, the average electron heat transport throughout the radial domain and the average ion heat transport in the region where the ITG is dominant are similar. The simulations with boron show the effective heat conductivity values qualitatively agree with the estimate obtained from the experiment.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

First-order crosstalk mitigation in parallel quantum gates driven with multi-photon transitions

Here, we demonstrate an order of magnitude reduction in the sensitivity to optical crosstalk for neighboring trapped-ion qubits during simultaneous single-qubit gates driven with individual addressing beams. Gates are implemented via two-photon Raman transitions, where crosstalk is mitigated by offsetting the drive frequencies for each qubit to avoid first-order crosstalk effects from inter-beam two-photon resonance. The technique is simple to implement, and we find that phase-dependent crosstalk due to optical interference is reduced on the most impacted neighbor from a maximal fractional rotation error of 0.185(4) without crosstalk mitigation to ≤0.006 with the mitigation strategy. Furthermore, we characterize first-order crosstalk in the two-qubit gate and avoid the resulting rotation errors for the arbitrary-axis Mølmer–Sørensen gate via a phase-agnostic composite gate. Finally, we demonstrate holistic system performance by constructing a composite CNOT gate using the improved single-qubit gates and phase-agnostic two-qubit gate. This work is done on the Quantum Scientific Computing Open User Testbed; however, our methods are widely applicable for individual addressing Raman gates and impose no significant overhead, enabling immediate improvement for quantum processors that incorporate this technique.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Trap Passivation for Reducing On-Resistance and Saturation Voltage in Wafer-Bonded InGaAs-Channel/GaN-Drain Vertical FETs

High frequency and high power are the driving forces behind semiconductor transistor technology. However, conventional devices have the tradeoff of either being high speed or high breakdown—but not both. Wafer-bonded current aperture vertical electron transistors (BAVETs) help eliminate the tradeoff by combining a high-speed III-As channel to a high-breakdown III-N drift region. The device presented herein comprises of an InAlAs gate-barrier/InGaAs channel, wafer-bonded to an InGaN/GaN drift region, with the InGaAs/InGaN interface referred to as the wafer-bonded interface (WBI). The electronic behavior of WBIs is yet less known but necessary in realizing the potential of a BAVET. Herein, strong trap activity at the WBI is shown to be the cause of abnormally high saturation voltage ( V DS_SAT ) in BAVETs. The traps cause unintentional space charge (SC) region in the drain region of the device. This causes a drain resistance, a higher ON-resistance ( R ON ), and a higher V DS_SAT . Here, the challenge is overcome by hydrogen passivation of traps at WBI by using a p-doping for the InAlAs layer, which reduces the trap-charge concentration at the WBI. Consequently, the width of the SC region is reduced and a reduction in V DS_SAT is demonstrated, wherein it reduces from >12 to 5 V.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Nonlinear evolution, propagation, electron-trapping, and damping effects of ion-acoustic solitons using fully kinetic PIC simulations

We investigate ion acoustic solitary waves (solitons) of varying amplitudes in a one-dimensional plasma using fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations. The initial soliton conditions are based on the Korteweg–de Vries (KdV) equation, treating ions as a cold species and electrons with finite temperature. Our findings reveal that KdV solitons evolve nonlinearly to a saturated state at higher amplitude, deviating from KdV predictions for ion density and electric potential, and from the Boltzmann relation for electron density. At this saturated state, the KdV model cannot accurately describe the soliton behavior. For small amplitudes, Sagdeev's model describes the saturated state, but not the soliton width; for larger amplitudes, it models the width accurately, but not the amplitude. These discrepancies arise from assuming a Boltzmann relation for electron density, while electron trapping creates non-Boltzmann densities—a deviation that increases with soliton amplitude. Additionally, we observe that the soliton amplitude oscillates roughly at the electron bounce frequency. The soliton is better described by Schamel's electron density formulation and a modified KdV equation incorporating electron trapping. The soliton velocity matches best with predictions from Sagdeev's and Schamel's models. Moreover, the soliton speed–amplitude relationship differs from existing theoretical predictions. Finally, we find minimal ion and electron Landau damping effects.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Laser-free trapped-ion entangling gates with simultaneous insensitivity to qubit and motional decoherence

The dominant error sources for state-of-the-art laser-free trapped-ion entangling gates are decoherence of the qubit state and the ion motion. The effect of these decoherence mechanisms can be suppressed with additional control fields or with techniques that have the disadvantage of reducing gate speed. In this study, we propose using a near-motional-frequency magnetic field gradient to implement a laser-free gate that is simultaneously resilient to both types of decoherence, does not require additional control fields, and has a relatively small cost in gate speed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Gaussian mixture model clustering algorithms for the analysis of high-precision mass measurements

The development of the phase-imaging ion-cyclotron resonance (PI-ICR) technique for use in Penning trap mass spectrometry (PTMS) increased the speed and precision with which PTMS experiments can be carried out. In PI-ICR, data sets of the locations of individual ion hits on a detector are created showing how ions cluster together into spots according to their cyclotron frequency. Ideal data sets would consist of a single, 2D-spherical spot with no other noise, but in practice data sets typically contain multiple spots, non-spherical spots, or significant noise, all of which can make determining the locations of spot centers non-trivial. A method for assigning groups of ions to their respective spots and determining the spot centers is therefore essential for further improving precision and confidence in PI-ICR experiments. Here, we present the class of Gaussian mixture model (GMM) clustering algorithms as an optimal solution. We show that on simulated PI-ICR data, several types of GMM clustering algorithms perform better than other clustering algorithms over a variety of typical scenarios encountered in PI-ICR. The mass spectra of 163Gd, 163 mGd, 162 Tb, and 162 mTb measured using PI-ICR at the Canadian Penning trap mass spectrometer were checked using GMMs, producing results that were in close agreement with the previously published values.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗