State dependent motional squeezing of a trapped ion: new method and applications

TL;DR

This paper introduces a reversible, state-dependent method for squeezing the motion of a trapped ion using an optical lattice, enabling advanced quantum information processing and high-precision quantum metrology.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel, reversible, state-selective squeezing technique for trapped ions using optical lattices, with applications in quantum computing and sensing.

Findings

Demonstrates controlled-squeeze gate implementation

Creates highly sensitive ${ m X}$-states for quantum metrology

Shows potential for continuous-variable quantum information processing

Abstract

We show that the motion of a cold trapped ion can be squeezed by modulating the intensity of a phase-stable optical lattice placed inside the trap. As this method is reversible and state selective it effectively implements a controlled-squeeze gate. We show how to use this resource, that can be useful for quantum information processing with continuous variables, in order to prepare coherent superpositions of states which are squeezed along complementary quadratures. We show that these states, which we denote as "${\mathcal X}$-states", exhibit high sensitivity to small displacements along two complementary quadratures which make them useful for quantum metrology.