Towards cryogenic surface ion traps

Full text: One promising approach for scalable quantum information processing (QIP) architectures is based on miniaturized surface ion traps. Traps with dimensions in the sub-100 μm range can be fabricated by photolithographic techniques. The ion-heating rate has been shown increases strongly with decreasing trap dimensions, though this can be reduced by several orders of magnitude when the trap electrodes are cooled from room temperature to 4 K. We present the characterization of a gold-on-sapphire surface microtrap suitable for use at cryogenic temperatures. The development of the cryostat and appropriate systems for ablation-based photoionization loading of cryo-traps are also discussed. Such traps will ultimately be used for quantum simulations, fundamental investigations of large-scale entanglement, and entanglement-enhanced precision measurements. (author)