Theory and application of planar ion traps

In this thesis, we investigate a new geometry of Paul trap with electrodes in a plane. These planar ion traps are compatible with modern silicon microfabrication, and can be scaled up to large arrays with multiple trapping zones. We implement these designs on printed circuit boards with macroscopic ions, allowing us to study the traps while avoiding the experimental challenges of atomic ion traps. We discuss the dynamics of ions in the traps using both numerical and analytical means. Scalable traps are of interest to the quantum computing community as a potential implementation of a large scale quantum computer. However, there are concerns about the low trap depth relative to a conventional trap of the same size. We address this in three ways, first by introducing a conductive plane above the trap to increase its depth, then by using a deeper trap with a three dimensional electrode geometry to load the trap, and finally by loading the trap directly while using a buffer gas to slow down energetic ions so that the trap can capture them. Also of concern is the ability of the trap to move ions through arms and intersections.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Pearson, Christopher Elliott

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Isaac L. Chuang.

• Physics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36398

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/36398