Reversing Hydride Ion Formation in Quantum Information Experiments with Be$^+$

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a photodissociation method using 157 nm photons to remove BeH$^+$ ions from a Coulomb crystal, improving ion purity and experiment duration in quantum information setups.

Contribution

It introduces a rotational-state-insensitive dissociation technique for BeH$^+$ ions that can be extended to other molecular ion contaminants.

Findings

Successfully dissociated BeH$^+$ ions in a large Coulomb crystal.

Enabled longer experimental runtimes by reducing molecular ion contamination.

Potentially applicable to other metal hydride ions like MgH$^+$ and AlH$^+$.

Abstract

We demonstrate photodissociation of BeH$^+$ ions within a Coulomb crystal of thousands of $^9$Be$^+$ ions confined in a Penning trap. Because BeH$^+$ ions are created via exothermic reactions between trapped, laser-cooled Be$^+$($^2\text{P}_{3/2}$) and background H$_2$ within the vacuum chamber, they represent a major contaminant species responsible for infidelities in large-scale trapped-ion quantum information experiments. The rotational-state-insensitive dissociation scheme described here makes use of 157 nm photons to produce Be$^+$ and H as products, thereby restoring Be$^+$ ions without the need for reloading. This technique facilitates longer experiment runtimes at a given background H$_2$ pressure, and may be adapted for removal of MgH$^+$ and AlH$^+$ impurities.