Low-cost Ultra-low Noise DAC System-on-Module for Scalable Ion-Trap Electrode Control

TL;DR

This paper introduces an open-hardware, low-cost, ultra-low noise DAC system-on-module designed for scalable ion-trap electrode control, emphasizing modularity, noise performance, and supply-chain considerations.

Contribution

It presents a novel low-noise DAC system-on-module optimized for ion-trap control, combining cost-effectiveness with scalability and performance.

Findings

Prototype demonstrates suitability for ion-trap physics experiments.

Design achieves low noise and sufficient bandwidth for quantum applications.

Supply-chain and cost considerations addressed in the hardware design.

Abstract

A new design for an open-hardware Digital-to-Analog Converter System-on-Module is presented for low-noise ion-trap electrode control. The design specifications were established to fill the technical needs of a modular, scalable DC electrode control platform with sufficient bandwidth, noise characteristics and control flexibility. Critically, a priority was placed on supply-chain management considerations and cost effectiveness for scaling. The system is based upon the Texas Instruments DAC81416 and AMD Xilinx Spartan-7 FPGA for the analog signal and compute architecture respectively. Performance characterization of a prototype device suggests the design is suitable for a variety of ion-trap physics experiments and quantum computing applications.