Abstract: Control over the quantum states of trapped atomic and molecular ions has steadily improved over the last 30 years and is leveraged towards more precise clocks, more powerful quantum information processors and greatly improved control over the quantum states of highly charged ions and molecular ions. In this talk, systems incorporating several different ion species will be highlighted. This approach has yielded some of the highest performance demonstrations of quantum information processing (QIP) to date and may be scalable to millions of qubits. At NIST we are advancing QIP by controlling ion qubits with radiofrequency and microwave fields and integrating optics and detectors directly into microfabricated ion traps. 

While a full-scale fault-tolerant quantum information processor is still elusive, quantum logic can connect atomic ions to molecular ions, which allows us to prepare single molecules in pure quantum states, coherently manipulate them and read out their final quantum states. In this way we can interrogate a single molecule with precise control over and full resolution of its rotational and vibrational degrees of freedom. I will discuss the proof-of-principle demonstrations at NIST and their potential for unprecedented control and spectroscopic studies of a wide class of single molecular ions. 

Research interests: Quantum science with trapped atomic and molecular ions