Transparent ion trap with integrated photodetector

TL;DR

This paper introduces a scalable ion trap design with integrated photodetectors that significantly improves fluorescence collection efficiency, enhancing state detection and entanglement rates in quantum computing.

Contribution

It presents a novel transparent surface trap with integrated photodetectors, achieving high collection efficiency and scalability for trapped ion quantum systems.

Findings

Achieved nearly 50% fluorescence collection efficiency.

Successfully trapped and detected fluorescence from single ions.

Demonstrated stable operation of transparent ion traps.

Abstract

Fluorescence collection sets the efficiency of state detection and the rate of entanglement generation between remote trapped ion qubits. Despite efforts to improve light collection using various optical elements, solid angle capture is limited to ~10% for implementations that are scalable to many ions. We present an approach based on fluorescence detection through a transparent trap using an integrated photodetector, combining collection efficiency approaching 50% with scalability. We microfabricate transparent surface traps with indium tin oxide and verify stable trapping of single ions. The fluorescence from a cloud of ions is detected using a photodiode sandwiched with a transparent trap.