Moving Traps Offer Fast Delivery of Cold Ions

Quantum physics experiments with trapped atoms or ions often require that the particles occupy the lowest quantum state of the trapping potential. This presents a challenge when the particles need to be moved to a different location in order to perform, for example, a quantum computation. Previous experiments succeeded in transporting trapped ions, albeit slowly, by modifying the trapping potential in such a way that the particles remain in the lowest energy state throughout the transport. Two groups of researchers have now succeeded in considerably speeding up ion transport in microfabricated ion traps. As described in separate papers in Physical Review Letters[1, 2], the teams propelled the motion by strongly exciting the ions for a short time before returning them to their initial state at the end of the transport. The demonstration of fast transport that preserves the motional state of trapped ions opens up interesting perspectives in the context of quantum information processing with trapped ions in multiplexed ion traps.