Quantum Computing in the Trapped Ion Playground

Dr. Kristin Beck, University of Maryland

Goergen 101

Abstract:

Trapped atomic ions are an ideal system for quantum computation, with optically-accessible qubit states with long coherence times and fidelities exceeding 99% [1]. This combination allows us to take advantage of coherence and entanglement--two distinctly quantum phenomena--to realize one- and two- qubit gates and to explore quantum algorithms that promise to scale better than their classical counterparts on particular problems like factoring large numbers [2]. In this talk, I will describe the trapped ion quantum computing architecture [3,4], share the new room-temperature surface-electrode-trap universal quantum computing system we are building at the University of Maryland, and present related experiments that use motion on the ion chain instead of the ion's electronic state for quantum simulation.

Bio:

Kristi Beck is a Joint Quantum Institute Postdoctoral Fellow in the Trapped Ion Quantum Information Group at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. Her research interests include quantum control and applying the techniques of laser cooling and trapping to quantum computing, quantum- limited measurement and quantum simulation. She has explored these interests in a variety of experimental systems, including ions trapped in RF potentials (her current work), thermal atoms in an optical resonator, superconducting qubits and degenerate gases of ultracold atoms. Kristi received her Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016, her M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge in 2010 and her B.S. in Physics and B.A. in Mathematics summa cum laude from the University of Rochester in 2009. Kristi has received many awards and fellowships including an IGERT traineeship in quantum information science (2009-2015), an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2009-2014), a Winston Churchill Scholarship (2009) and a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship (2007). Outside of her research, Kristi mentors undergraduate women in physics through with University of Maryland’s Women in Physics.

[1] NM Linke, et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 114, 13 (2017).

[2] A Montanaro. npj Quant. Inf. 2, 15023 (2016).

[3] C Monroe and D Wineland, Scientific American 64-71 (Aug. 2008).

[4] S Debnath, et al. Nature 536, 63 (2016).

Location:  Goergen 101

Refreshments will be served.