Decoherence-assisted spectroscopy of a single Mg+ ion.

We describe a high-resolution spectroscopy method in which the detection of single excitation events is enhanced by a complete loss of coherence of a superposition of two ground states. Thereby, transitions of a single isolated atom nearly at rest are recorded efficiently with high signal-to-noise ratios. Spectra display symmetric line shapes without stray-light background from spectroscopy probes.

Quantum walks with nonorthogonal position states.

Quantum walks have by now been realized in a large variety of different physical settings. In some of these, particularly with trapped ions, the walk is implemented in phase space, where the corresponding position states are not orthogonal. We develop a general description of such a quantum walk and show how to map it into a standard one with orthogonal states, thereby making available all the tools developed for the latter.

Single ions trapped in a one-dimensional optical lattice.

We report on three-dimensional optical trapping of single ions in a one-dimensional optical lattice formed by two counterpropagating laser beams. We characterize the trapping parameters of the standing-wave using the ion as a sensor stored in a hybrid trap consisting of a radio-frequency (rf), a dc, and the optical potential. When loading ions directly from the rf into the standing-wave trap, we observe a dominant heating rate.

Quantum walk of a trapped ion in phase space.

We implement the proof of principle for the quantum walk of one ion in a linear ion trap. With a single-step fidelity exceeding 0.99, we perform three steps of an asymmetric walk on the line.