IonQ, Inc.

Techniques to address the problem of having micromotion and stray fields affect trapped ions and the operation of QIP systems based on trapped ions are described. For example, one technique or approach may involve collecting scattered photons off the ions using a resonant or near-resonant oscillating electric field (e.g., a laser beam or a microwave source) with some projection in the axis or direction of micromotion that one wishes to reduce. Another technique or approach may include raising and lowering the trapping potentials to see how the ion position changes. The information collected from these techniques may be used to provide appropriate adjustments. Accordingly, the present disclosure describes methods, scripts, or techniques that minimize the effects of micromotion.

The disclosure describes various aspects of different for automated testing of optical assemblies. A system is described that includes an arm (e.g., a motorized arm) configured to be positioned over an optical assembly having a base plate with multiple optical elements that form one or more optical beam paths. The system also includes at least one optical tool that is configured to be removably attached to the arm and has a measurement instrument to perform a specified test on at least one of the optical beam paths. The arm is configured to adjust its position over the optical assembly to move the optical tool to the correct place to perform the specified test. The system may also include an optical tool changer configured to hold the optical tool in a tool holder when not attached to the arm and to hold additional optical tools in respective tool holders.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to systems and methods for use in the implementation and/or operation of quantum information processing (QIP) systems, and more particularly, to a technique for the fabrication of laser-ablation targets used in atomic sources for QIP systems that are based on atomic-based qubits.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for minimizing error accumulation in a quantum circuit. A method may include for at least one respective gate in the quantum circuit: generating a random phase value; setting a phase attribute of a respective laser pulse to the random phase value, wherein the respective laser pulse is associated with the respective gate; and applying the respective laser pulse to at least one trapped ion representing a qubit of the quantum circuit.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to systems, devices, methods, and computer-program products for use in the implementation and/or operation of quantum information processing (QIP) systems, and more particularly, for configuration of a resource graph for a quantum computer having reconfigurable qubit registers.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to efficiently trapping ions for QIP systems. A system may include an ablation laser beam source and an ion trapping structure including: an enclosure with an orifice, a source material that is arranged in the enclosure and receives an ablation laser pulse to provide a plume of atoms. A system may include at least one LED that is arranged in the enclosure and onto which at least a portion of the plume of atoms is deposited, wherein the at least one LED is configured to emit light that desorbs at least one deposited atom through the orifice. A system may include an ion trap with a gap through which the at least one deposited atom desorbed travels from the orifice, and a laser beam source configured to generate a laser beam towards the at least one deposited atom creating a trapped ion.

Aspects of the present disclosure describe techniques for using a parabolic Cassegrain-type reflector for ablation. For example, a system for ablation loading of a trap is described that includes a reflector having a hole aligned with a loading aperture of the trap, and an atomic source positioned at a focal point of the reflector, where one or more laser beams are reflected from a reflective front side of the reflector and focused on a surface of the atomic source to produce an atomic plume, and the atomic plume once produced passing through the hole in the reflector and through a loading aperture of the trap for loading the trap. A method for ablation loading of a trap within a chamber in a trapped ion system is also described.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to systems and methods for use in the implementation and/or operation of quantum information processing (QIP) systems. To optimize the performance of QIP systems or quantum computers in terms of both fidelity and algorithm uptime or throughput, described are techniques to stabilize continuous and discrete errors from drifting and/or noisy secondary observables to achieve long term stable operation.

A network of quantum information processing (QIP) systems includes a first QIP system, a second QIP system, and an optical system. The first QIP system includes a first ion trap that traps a first interconnect ion and a first memory ion in a first interconnect zone. The second QIP system includes a second ion trap configured to trap a second interconnect ion and a second memory ion in a second interconnect zone. The optical system directs a first optical beam and a second optical beam to the first interconnect zone to perform a SWAP gate to transfer information between the first interconnect ion and the first memory ion during a first duration, and directs the first optical beam and the second optical beam to the second interconnect zone to perform a SWAP gate to transfer information between the second interconnect ion and the second memory ion during a second duration.

Aspects of the present disclosure describe a method including compressing and uncompressing redundant quantum information encoded in quantum computers; processing quantum information in the compressed space; and computing, in response to determining the ansatz terms, a set of optimal transformations.