Colloquium: A Quantum computer based on trapped ions

Title: A Quantum computer based on trapped ions

Speaker: Norbert M. Linke, University of Maryland and Joint Quantum Institute

Details: Quantum computers promise to solve certain problems more efficiently than any classical device. Trapped ions are a promising candidate system to realize such a quantum computer. We present a modular quantum computing architecture comprised of 171Yb+ ions with individual laser beam addressing and readout [1]. We use the motional modes in the ion chain to produce entangling gates between any qubit pair. This creates a fully connected system which can be configured efficiently to run any sequence of single- and two-qubit gates [2], making it in effect an arbitrarily programmable quantum computer. 

Recent results from different quantum algorithms with five and seven qubits will be presented, including a probe into the black-hole information paradox [3]. I will also discuss schemes to scale up this architecture.
 
[1] S. Debnath et al., Nature 563:63 (2016)
[2] NML et al., PNAS 114 13:3305 (2017)
[3] K. Landsman et al., arXiv:1806.02807 (2019)
 
BIO: Norbert M. Linke is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland and a Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute working on quantum applications of trapped ions. Born in Munich, Germany, he graduated from the University of Ulm, Germany, and received his doctorate at the University of Oxford, UK, working on micro-fabricated ion-traps and microwave-addressing of ions. Before becoming a faculty member, he spent four years as a post-doc and research scientist in the group of Chris Monroe at the JQI where he led a project that turned a physics experiment into a programmable quantum computer.