近日，德国联邦物理技术研究院的Fabian Wolf及其研究团队取得一项新进展。经过不懈努力，他们实现双组分双离子晶体的确定性制备。相关研究成果已于2024年7月8日在国际知名学术期刊《物理评论A》上发表。

该研究团队提出一种确定性和高效的技术来生产双离子晶体，其利用线性保罗阱的分段结构。通过精确地调整捕获电位，研究人员可以分裂、移动和丢弃离子链的某些部分。这个过程是自动化的，将较大的离子样品转换成所需的构型。该方法的一个关键组成部分是晶体成分的准确识别。

这是通过将荧光离子的测量位置与较大晶体的理论期望相匹配来实现的，从而促进了非荧光离子的检测并实现了准确的离子计数。研究人员证明了该方法可以在几分钟内可靠地产生双离子晶体。

这些结果代表了两种离子晶体生产的重大进展，其应用范围从量子逻辑光谱和光学时钟到量子计算和捕获离子模拟。

据悉，在量子技术和捕获离子的基础物理应用领域，对有效制备双离子晶体方法的需求正在迅速扩大。

附：英文原文

Title: Deterministic preparation of a dual-species two-ion crystal

Author: Maximilian J. Zawierucha, Till Rehmert, Jonas Keller, Tanja E. Mehlstubler, Piet O. Schmidt, Fabian Wolf

Issue&Volume: 2024/07/08

Abstract: The demand for efficient preparation methods for dual-species ion crystals is rapidly expanding across quantum technology and fundamental physics applications with trapped ions. We present a deterministic and efficient technique to produce such crystals, utilizing the segmented structure of a linear Paul trap. By precisely tailoring the trapping potentials, we can split, move, and discard parts of an ion chain. This process is automated in a sequence that converts a larger ion sample into the desired configuration. A critical component of our approach is the accurate identification of crystal constituents. This is achieved by matching the measured positions of fluorescing ions against theoretical expectations for larger crystals, thus facilitating the detection of nonfluorescing ions and enabling accurate ion counting. We demonstrate that our method reliably produces two-ion crystals within minutes. These results represent a significant advance in the production of two-species ion crystals with applications ranging from quantum logic spectroscopy and optical clocks to quantum computing and simulations with trapped ions.

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.110.013107

Source: https://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.110.013107