Quantum computing with trapped ions

Quantum computers hold the promise of solving certain computational tasks much more efficiently than classical computers. We review recent experimental advances towards a quantum computer with trapped ions. In particular, various implementations of qubits, quantum gates and some key experiments are discussed. Furthermore, we review some implementations of quantum algorithms such as a deterministic teleportation of quantum information and an error correction scheme.     

Entanglement of three-level trapped ions with phonon trap modes

The entanglement between a single electron in the electronic states of a trapped three-level ion and the ionic vibrational modes of the trap is studied for an initially unentangled state of an electron level and a coherent phonon state. The effects of time-independent and time-dependent couplings are discussed.     

Practical scheme for non-postselection entanglement concentration using linear optical elements

We report a practical non-postselection entanglement concentration scheme in which a maximally entangled Bell-state photon pair is produced from two pairs of partially (or non-maximally) entangled photons. Since this scheme is built only upon linear optical elements and does not require photon-number resolving detectors, it has immediate applications in experimental implementations of various quantum information protocols which require two-photon Bell-states.     

Quantum phase gate in decoherence-free subspace with cavity QED system

We demonstrate how to perform quantum phase gate with cavity QED system in decoherence-free subspace by using only linear optics elements and photon detectors. The qubits are encoded in the singlet state of the atoms in cavities among spatially separated nodes, and the quantum interference of polarized photons decayed from the optical cavities is used to realized the desired quantum operation among distant nodes. In comparison with previous schemes, the distinct advantage is that the gate fidelity could not only resist collective noises, but also immune from atomic spontaneous emission, cavity decay, and imperfection of the photodetectors. We also discuss the experimental feasibility of our scheme.     

Dynamics of quantum observables in entangled states

We examine the dynamics of a radiation field propagating through a nonlinear medium. A time series analysis of the mean photon number illustrates how an open quantum system interacting with a quantum environment can exhibit remarkably diverse ergodicity properties, both nonlinearity and departure from coherence playing a crucial role.     

Cluster-type entangled coherent states

We present the cluster-type entangled coherent states (CTECS) and discuss their properties. A cavity QED generation scheme using suitable choices of atom-cavity interactions, obtained via detunings adjustments and the application of classical external fields, is also presented. After the realization of simple atomic measurements, CTECS representing nonlocal electromagnetic fields in separate cavities can be generated.     

Generation of Multiple-Photon GHZ State via Cavity-Assisted Interaction

We propose a scheme for preparing multiple-photon GHZ state via cavity-assisted interaction. There are n-pair single-photon pulses successively injected and reflected from two sides of the cavity, which traps one atom. After the atomic state is measured, a 2n-photon GHZ state is produced. In the ideal case, the successful probability of the scheme is close to unity.     

Establishment of Entanglement for Two Atoms Trapped in Two Distant Bad Cavities

A scheme is presented for generation of entangled states for two atoms trapped in two distant bad cavities. The scheme can work with bad cavities with the coupling strength smaller than the cavity decay rate, which is important from the viewpoint of experiment. In the scheme the atoms have no probability of being populated in the excited state and thus the atomic spontaneous emission is suppressed, which increases the probability of success. The fidelity of the entangled state is not affected by the detection eflciency. Furthermore, the scheme does not require the detection of the left-polarized photon and right-polarized photon at the same time.     

fficient Scheme for Implementing a Fredkin Gate via Resonant Interaction with Two-Mode Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics

A scheme for implementing a Fredkin gate with an atom sent through a microwave cavity is proposed. The scheme is based on the resonant atom-cavity interaction so that the gating time is sharply short, which is important in view of decoherence.     

Maximum efficiency of a linear-optical Bell-state analyzer

In a photonic realization of qubits the implementation of quantum logic is rather difficult due to the extremely weak interaction on the few photon level. On the other hand, in these systems interference is available to process the quantum states. We formalize the use of interference by the definition of a simple class of operations which include linear-optical elements, auxiliary states and conditional operations. We investigate an important subclass of these tools, namely linear-optical elements and auxiliary modes in the vacuum state. For these tools, we are able to extend a previous qualitative result, a no-go theorem for perfect Bell-state analyzer on two qubits in polarization entanglement, by a quantitative statement. We show that within this subclass it is not possible to discriminate unambiguously four equiprobable Bell states with a probability higher than 50%. Received: 18 July 2000 / Revised version: 15 September 2000 / Published online: 6 December 2000     

Generation of a four-atom entangled cluster state in cavity QED

We propose a method of generating a four-atom entangled cluster state by considering two kinds of the atoms–cavity field interaction in cavity QED. During the preparation the cavity is only virtually excited no quantum information will be transferred from the atoms to the cavity and thus the scheme is insensitive to the cavity field states and cavity decay. The scheme can also be used to generate the cluster state for the trapped ions.