Advanced ion trap development and ultrafast laser-ion interactions

All of the essential elements for a trapped ion quantum computer have been demonstrated in previous experiments. There are, however, many technical challenges to scaling the number of quantum bits from the current state-of-the-art (about 8) to the number of qubits needed for practical quantum computing. Although there is experimental evidence supporting one possible method (using cw laser pulses and common motional modes as the ion interaction) for deterministic ion entanglement, it is not known if that will ultimately be the most practical method for building a large-scale quantum computer. One model for scalable quantum computing with trapped ions calls for large interconnected arrays of small traps. Several advancements reported in this work include the development of three layer alumina traps as well as MEMS fabricated microtraps. Other models for scalable trapped ion quantum computing do not call for local entanglement or call for relaxed constraints on the motional control of the ions. These proposals require the use of ultrafast laser pulses interacting with the ions. This work reviews several experiments that explore the interaction between the ultrafast laser and single tripped ions including early indication of ultrafast control and entanglement between a single ion and a single photon frequency qubit.