EECS Seminar: 3D-Printed Micro Ion Trap Technology for Scalable Quantum Information Processing and Precision Measurements

Abstract: Trapped-ion applications, such as in quantum information, precision measurements, optical clocks, and mass spectrometry, rely on specialized high-performance ion traps. The latter applications typically employ traditional machining to customize macroscopic 3D Paul traps, while quantum information processing experiments usually rely on photo-lithographic techniques to miniaturize the traps and meet scalability requirements. Using photolithography, however, it is challenging to fabricate the complex three-dimensional electrode structures required for optimal confinement. Here we address these limitations by adopting a high-resolution 3D printing technology based on two-photon polymerization supporting fabrication of large arrays of high-performance miniaturized 3D traps. We show that 3D-printed ion traps combine the advantages of traditionally machined 3D traps with the miniaturization provided by photolithography by confining single calcium ions in a small 3D-printed ion trap with radial trap frequencies ranging from 2 MHz to 24 MHz. The tight confinement eases ion cooling requirements and allows us to demonstrate high-fidelity coherent operations on an optical qubit after only Doppler cooling. With 3D printing technology, the design freedom is drastically expanded without sacrificing scalability and precision so that ion trap geometries can be optimized for higher performance and better functionality.

Bio: Hartmut Haeffner is a Professor of Physics at UC Berkeley. He earned his PhD in 2000 from the University of Mainz in precision metrology, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at NIST Gaithersburg, where he studied Bose-Einstein condensates and dynamical tunneling. In 2001, he joined the University of Innsbruck as a postdoctoral researcher to implement quantum algorithms and develop trapped-ion quantum computers. As a staff scientist at Innsbruck, he demonstrated a universal set of quantum gates, achieved ion-state teleportation, and performed tomography of an eight-particle entangled state.
Since 2009, Haeffner has led his own research group at UC Berkeley, developing novel quantum technologies for quantum computing. Further, his team applies quantum information science to precision measurement and fundamental-symmetry tests, including searches for Lorentz symmetry violation and studies of quantum mechanical nonlinearity. Key accomplishments include pioneering 3D-printed ion traps for quantum computing, observing quantum synchronization, demonstrating coherent transfer of orbital angular momentum to a quantum rotor, and experimentally verifying the symmetrization postulate of quantum field theory via rotational interferometry.