# Micromotion-enabled improvement of quantum logic gates with trapped ions

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how micromotion in trapped ion systems can be harnessed to enhance quantum logic gates, leading to faster and more accurate entangling operations for quantum computing.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel scheme using laser-driven micromotion sidebands to improve quantum gate speed and fidelity in trapped ion systems.

## Key findings

- Micromotion can be turned from a nuisance into a resource for quantum gates.
- The proposed method reduces off-resonant couplings, enhancing gate performance.
- Potential for implementing faster, lower-error entangling gates in ion trap quantum computers.

## Abstract

The micromotion of ion crystals confined in Paul traps is usually considered an inconvenient nuisance, and is thus typically minimised in high-precision experiments such as high-fidelity quantum gates for quantum information processing. In this work, we introduce a particular scheme where this behavior can be reversed, making micromotion beneficial for quantum information processing. We show that using laser-driven micromotion sidebands, it is possible to engineer state-dependent dipole forces with a reduced effect of off-resonant couplings to the carrier transition. This allows one, in a certain parameter regime, to devise entangling gate schemes based on geometric phase gates with both a higher speed and a lower error, which is attractive in light of current efforts towards fault-tolerant quantum information processing. We discuss the prospects of reaching the parameters required to observe this micromotion-enabled improvement in experiments with current and future trap designs.