2012/10/31 by Kenneth Wright, Jason M. Amini, Daniel L. Faircloth +9 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #physics.atom-ph #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/15/3/033004
published as New J. Phys. 15 033004 (2013) · 13 pages, 8 figures
arxiv created 2013/02/25 · arxiv updated 2015/06/11
We report the design, fabrication, and characterization of a microfabricated surface-electrode ion trap that supports controlled transport through the two-dimensional intersection of linear trapping zones arranged in a ninety-degree cross. The trap is fabricated with very-large-scalable-integration (VLSI) techniques which are compatible with scaling to a larger quantum information processor. The shape of the radio-frequency (RF) electrodes is optimized with a genetic algorithm to minimize axial pseudopotential barriers and to minimize ion heating during transport. Seventy-eight independent DC control electrodes enable fine control of the trapping potentials. We demonstrate reliable ion transport between junction legs, trapping of ion chains with nearly-equal spacing in one of the trap's linear sections, and merging and splitting ions from these chains. Doppler-cooled ions survive more than 105 round-trip transits between junction legs without loss and more than sixty-five consecutive round trips without laser cooling.