Coherent Control of Single 40Ca+ Qubits in a Linear Paul Trap

Abstract

Quantum computation has been a steadily advancing field of research with potential extensive applications in academia as well as industry. Trapped-ion systems are one of the frontrunners in the race for physical platforms for realizing the true potential of quantum computers. This thesis describes the design, characterization and coherent control of a single 40Ca+ ion in a linear Paul trap. We demonstrate the ability to implement Doppler cooling to reduce the motional energy of ions, trap and image single and multiple ions with the cooling transition fluorescence and perform pulsed spectroscopy on the quadrupole transition using electron shelving detection technique. We characterize the spectrum of the qubit transition and identify the carrier and motional sidebands by analyzing the shift of the peaks with an applied magnetic field. We also show coherent control over the internal states of the ion by demonstrating Rabi oscillations on the qubit transition. The results presented in this thesis lay the groundwork for future experiments involving multi-qubit gates and entanglement generation in trapped-ion systems, which are essential for realizing the full potential of quantum computation.