Research at the Quantum Systems Accelerator has been steadily breaking new ground, quickening the pace toward flexible, stable quantum computers with capabilities well beyond those of today's classical machines.
While the principles underlying quantum systems have been understood for decades, building machines that leverage those ideas requires precision engineering. At this scale, many of the same properties that give quantum computing its unprecedented power also create unique challenges to harnessing it.
Trapped-ion systems have become one of the most established platforms for advancing quantum technology. These systems use electric fields to trap and move ions in a quantum processor, as well as lasers to manipulate their atomic and motional quantum states.
This architecture allows for long chains of interconnected qubits that remain in a state of quantum coherence for long periods of time, providing some of the most promising capabilities in quantum research. Recent research at QSA has advanced the capabilities of trapped ion designs to enable holding larger numbers of qubits.
A group of QSA researchers at Sandia National Laboratories, led by Jonathan Sterk, designed, fabricated, and performed preliminary tests on a trap chip capable of storing up to 200 ions. This device, called the "enchilada trap," incorporated novel features to reduce radiofrequency (RF) power dissipation and multiple operational zones connected via junctions.
These features can be used in future traps that may need to store orders-of-magnitude more qubits, as shown in a study published on the arXiv pre-print server.
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