Quantum Computation with Rotational States of Nonpolar Ionic Molecules

TL;DR

This paper proposes a scalable quantum computing architecture using rotational states of nonpolar ionic molecules, which are more resistant to decoherence than traditional electronic-state qubits, and provides methods for their manipulation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel qubit implementation with rotational states of ionic molecules and details the complete set of operations for quantum computing.

Findings

Rotational-state qubits are more immune to decoherence than electronic-state qubits.

A comprehensive method set for state preparation and quantum gates is developed.

Rotational-state qubits are suitable for large-scale quantum computing.

Abstract

We propose a quantum computer architecture which is robust against decoherence and scalable. As a qubit, we adopt rotational states of a nonpolar ionic molecule trapped in an ion-trap. It is revealed that the rotational-state qubits are much more immune to decoherence than the conventional electronic-state qubits of atomic ions. A complete method set for state preparation, single-qubit gate, controlled-NOT gate, and qubit-readout suitable for the rotational-state qubits is provided. Since the ionic molecules can be transported in an array of ion traps, the rotational-state qubits are expected to be a promising candidate to build a large-scale quantum computer.