Switchable low-noise permanent magnet gradients for long-wavelength trapped-ion quantum information.

10 Sept 2026, 16:40
20m
Short Talk (15min) Quantum Technologies Quantum Technologies

Speaker

Caleb Burhan (University of Sussex)

Description

Static magnetic field gradients can be used to couple the spin and motional states of trapped-ions, allowing for two-qubit gates using long-wavelength radiation. The use of permanent magnets to create such gradients give rise to much better noise specifications than the use of current carrying wires (CCWs), enabling much higher entanglement fidelities while reducing the required power consumption. The desire for scalability, as well as the need to switch fields off between gate and shuttling operations, has led to the development of trap-integrated current carrying wire methods of gradient generation. Gradients produced by CCWs inevitably introduce current-dependant noise which must be mitigated with bulky low-noise current supplies. We present a method of generating magnetic field gradients with a novel magnetic field switching system. This “Saturable Electronic Reluctance Switch” (SERS) allows the field of a permanent magnet to be switched on and off by application of a current, but without any current dependence at the output field. This allows for fully stable output field akin to a permanent magnet allowing for high-fidelity two-qubit gates, but with the ability to switch the field on and off for shuttling operations within a QCCD architecture. This method is the first bi-stable magnetic field switch, and can find applications in other areas of atomic and molecular physics such as micro-NMR imaging and neutral atom traps.

Academic level PhD student

Author

Dr Pedro Taylor-Burdett (University of Sussex)

Co-authors

Caleb Burhan (University of Sussex) Dr Foni Raphaël Lebrun-Gallagher (Universal Quantum Ltd) Mr Scott Mason (University of Sussex) Sebastian Weidt (Universal Quantum, Ion Quantum Technology Group University of Sussex) Winfried Hensinger (University of Sussex)

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