CONTINUOUS VARIABLES QUANTUM INFORMATION PROCESSING WITH TRAPPED IONS

Abstract

Quantum computers have seen tremendous progress since they were introduced in the 1980s. Notably, trapped ion systems have become one of the forerunners of quantum computing. However, much of the progress is due to the discrete variables paradigm where information is encoded in qubits. For trapped ions, this may present technical challenges when scaling up. By encoding information in harmonic oscillator states instead, the issue of scaling might be mitigated thanks to the large Hilbert space. Such an approach is known as continuous variable quantum computing (CVQC). To implement universal CVQC, a single nonlinear gate and a two-mode coupling interaction like a beam splitter is necessary. Realization of a nonlinear controlled beam splitter gate is presented in this thesis, and we examine its implementation to applications such as the swap test, single-shot parity measurement, and NOON state generation. Finally, the method to achieving universal CVQC is also discussed.