New ion cooling technique could simplify quantum computing devices
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A new cooling technique that utilizes a single species of trapped ion for both computing and cooling could simplify the use of quantum charge-coupled devices (QCCDs), potentially moving quantum computing closer to practical applications.
Using a technique called rapid ion exchange cooling, scientists at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have shown that they could cool a calcium ion—which gains vibrational energy while doing quantum computations—by moving a cold ion of the same species into close proximity. After transferring energy from the hot ion to the cold one, the refrigerant ion is returned to a nearby reservoir to be cooled for further use.
Conventional ion cooling for QCCDs involves the use of two different ion species, with cooling ions coupled to lasers of a different wavelength that do not affect the ions used for quantum computing. Beyond the lasers needed to control the quantum computing operations, this sympathetic cooling technique requires additional lasers to trap and control the refrigerant ions, and that both increases complexity and slows quantum computing operations.
