A deterministic single ion fountain

Abstract

Abstract We present an alternative approach for interconnecting trapped ion processor nodes by deterministic single ion transfer. In our experiments, we demonstrate the single ion extraction out of a linear Paul trap, into a free space trajectory, followed by recapture in the trapping potential. We recapture in the same trap, coined the ion fountain operation after a free-space travel of distance 110 mm and a time of flight of 7 μs. Our experimental realization yields a success probability of 95.1%, namely 715 out of 752 extracted ions are retrapped, cooled and observed. Based on such high success rate, we discuss the future perspective for an application towards scalable ion trap quantum computing and advanced quantum sensing.