Single ion-qubit exceeding one hour coherence time

TL;DR

This paper reports a single ytterbium ion-qubit quantum memory with over one hour of coherence time, achieved by overcoming key technical challenges, and demonstrates its ability to preserve quantum information for over 6000 seconds.

Contribution

The work presents the first single ion-qubit quantum memory exceeding one hour coherence time, with systematic decoherence analysis and benchmarking of quantum information preservation.

Findings

Coherence time of over one hour achieved

Quantum memory preserves non-classical information over 6000 seconds

Systematic study of decoherence process conducted

Abstract

Realizing a long coherence time quantum memory is a major challenge of current quantum technology. Here, we report a single \Yb ion-qubit memory with over one hour coherence time, an order of improvement compared to the state-of-the-art record. The long coherence time memory is realized by addressing various technical challenges such as ambient magnetic-field noise, phase noise and leakage of the microwave oscillator. Moreover, systematically study the decoherence process of our quantum memory by quantum process tomography, which enables to apply the strict criteria of quantum coherence, relative entropy of coherence. We also benchmark our quantum memory by its ability in preserving quantum information, i.e., the robustness of quantum memory, which clearly shows that over 6000 s, our quantum memory preserves non-classical quantum information. Our results verify the stability of the quantum memory in hours level and indicate its versatile applicability in various scenarios.