Heating of a Trapped Ion Induced by Dielectric Materials
Markus Teller, Dario Fioretto, Philip C. Holz, Philipp Claudius Schindler, Viktor Messerer, Klemens Schüppert, Yueyang Zou, R. Blatt, John Chiaverini, Jeremy Sage, Tracy E. Northup · Physical Review Letters · 2021
Electric-field noise due to surfaces disturbs the motion of nearby trapped ions, compromising the fidelity of gate operations that are the basis for quantum computing algorithms. We present a method that predicts the effect of dielectric materials on the ion's motion. Such dielectrics are integral components of ion traps. Quantitative agreement is found between a model with no free parameters and measurements of a trapped ion in proximity to dielectric mirrors. We expect that this approach can be used to optimize the design of ion-trap-based quantum computers and network nodes.