Microfabrication techniques for trapped ion quantum information processing

Quantum-mechanical principles can be used to process information. In one approach, linear arrays of trapped, laser cooled ion qubits (two-level quantum systems) are confined in segmented multi-zone electrode structures. Strong Coulomb coupling between ions is the basis for quantum gates mediated by phonon exchange. Applications of Quantum Information Processing (QIP) include solution of problems believed to be intractable on classical computers. The ion trap approach to QIP requires trapping and control of numerous ions in electrode structures with many trapping zones. In support of trapped ion QIP, I investigated microfabrication of structures to trap, transport and couple large numbers of ions. Using 24Mg + I demonstrated loading and transport between zones in microtraps made of boron doped silicon. This thesis describes the fundamentals of ion trapping, the characteristics of silicon-based traps amenable to QIP work and apparatus to trap ions and characterize traps. Microfabrication instructions appropriate for nonexperts are included. A key characteristic of ion traps is the rate at which ion motional modes heat. In my traps upper bounds on heating were determined; however, heating due to externally injected noise could not be completely ruled out. Noise on the RF potential responsible for providing confinement was identified as one source of injected noise. Using the microfabrication technology developed for ion traps, I made a cantilevered micromechanical oscillator and with coworkers demonstrated a method to reduce the kinetic energy of its lowest order mechanical mode via its capacitive coupling to a driven RF resonant circuit. Cooling results from a RF capacitive force, which is phase shifted relative to the cantilever motion. The technique was demonstrated by cooling a 7 kHz fundamental mode from room temperature to 45 K. Ground state cooling of the mechanical modes of motion of harmonically trapped ions is routine; equivalent cooling of a macroscopic harmonic oscillator has not yet been demonstrated. Extension of this method to devices with higher motional frequencies in a cryogenic system, could enable ground state cooling and may prove simpler than related optical experiments. I also discuss an implementation of the semiclassical quantum Fourier transform (QFT) using three beryllium ion qubits. The QFT is a crucial step in a number of quantum algorithms including Shor's algorithm, a quantum approach to integer factorization which is exponentially faster than the fastest known classical factoring algorithm. This demonstration incorporated the key elements of a scalable ion-trap architecture for QIP.