High-efficiency detection of a single quantum of angular momentum by suppression of optical pumping

Hybrid quantum logic and a test of Bell's inequality using two different atomic isotopes

Entanglement is one of the most fundamental properties of quantum mechanics, and is the key resource for quantum information processing (QIP). Bipartite entangled states of identical particles have been generated and studied in several experiments, and post-selected or heralded entangled states involving pairs of photons, single photons and single atoms, or different nuclei in the solid state, have also been produced. Here we use a deterministic quantum logic gate to generate a 'hybrid' entangled state of two trapped-ion qubits held in different isotopes of calcium, perform full tomography of the state produced, and make a test of Bell's inequality with non-identical atoms. We use a laser-driven two-qubit gate, whose mechanism is insensitive to the qubits' energy splittings, to produce a maximally entangled state of one (40)Ca(+) qubit and one (43)Ca(+) qubit, held 3.5 micrometres apart in the same ion trap, with 99.8 ± 0.6 per cent fidelity. We test the CHSH (Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt) version of Bell's inequality for this novel entangled state and find that it is violated by 15 standard deviations; in this test, we close the detection loophole but not the locality loophole. Mixed-species quantum logic is a powerful technique for the construction of a quantum computer based on trapped ions, as it allows protection of memory qubits while other qubits undergo logic operations or are used as photonic interfaces to other processing units. The entangling gate mechanism used here can also be applied to qubits stored in different atomic elements; this would allow both memory and logic gate errors caused by photon scattering to be reduced below the levels required for fault-tolerant quantum error correction, which is an essential prerequisite for general-purpose quantum computing.

Optical injection and spectral filtering of high-power ultraviolet laser diodes

We demonstrate injection locking of high-power laser diodes operating at 397 nm. We achieve stable operation with an injection power of ∼100  μW and a slave laser output power of up to 110 mW. We investigate the spectral purity of the slave laser light via photon scattering experiments on a single trapped (40)Ca(+) ion. We show that it is possible to achieve a scattering rate indistinguishable from that of monochromatic light by filtering the laser light with a diffraction grating to remove amplified spontaneous emission.

Experimental recovery of a qubit from partial collapse

We describe and implement a method to restore the state of a single qubit, in principle perfectly, after it has partially collapsed. The method resembles the classical Hahn spin echo but works on a wider class of relaxation processes, in which the quantum state partially leaves the computational Hilbert space. It is not guaranteed to work every time, but successful outcomes are heralded. We demonstrate, using a single trapped ion, a better performance from this recovery method than can be obtained employing projection and postselection alone. The demonstration features a novel qubit implementation that permits both partial collapse and coherent manipulations with high fidelity.

Long-lived mesoscopic entanglement outside the Lamb-Dicke regime

We create entangled states of the spin and motion of a single 40Ca+ ion in a linear ion trap. We theoretically study and experimentally observe the behavior outside the Lamb-Dicke regime, where the trajectory in phase space is modified and the motional coherent states become squeezed. We directly observe the modification of the return time of the trajectory, and infer the squeezing. The mesoscopic entanglement is observed up to Deltaalpha=5.1 with coherence time 170 micros and mean phonon excitation n = 16.