Fermilab News Today: QSC & QSA Drive Ion-Trap Innovation
Current Fermilab News
Quantum Science Center (QSC) and Quantum Systems Accelerator collaboration has advanced scalable quantum computer fabrication. This is a major advance in quantum information science. Researchers from MIT Lincoln Laboratory and Fermilab collaborated to show the use of cryoelectronics to govern ion traps, a vital step toward large-scale quantum systems.
Scalability Issues in Ion-Trap Systems
As qubits, ion-trap quantum computers use charged atoms contained by electric or magnetic fields, which scientists respect. Long coherence times and high-fidelity operations make these systems excellent for quantum computing. Scaling these devices to millions of qubits for sophisticated, practical applications remains a huge problem.
Ion-trap systems use a complicated laser arrangement and lots of wire to connect room-temperature electronics and cryogenic ion traps. Due to space and noise constraints, this traditional design becomes less viable as ion numbers increase. Scientists are trying to bring qubit control techniques closer to avoid this.
New Method: In-Vacuum Cryoelectronics
Fermilab and MIT Lincoln Laboratory made a breakthrough by replacing room-temperature controllers with a cryogenic chip. The researchers placed ultra-low-power cryoelectronics near the ion traps to reduce thermal noise and boost sensitivity.
The Fermilab cryoelectronics circuits created for extremely low temperatures were employed in this proof-of-principle experiment. These circuits were tested at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory ion-trap platform to transfer ions, keep them in predefined locations, and calculate electronic noise. The researchers demonstrated that this hybrid technique can reliably regulate and manipulate ions in a tiny form factor.
Institutional Cooperation and Support
The co-integration of ion traps and deep cryogenic control circuits project was supported by two of the DOE's five National Quantum Information Science Research Centers. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Quantum Science Center and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Quantum Systems Accelerator organized and staffed the demonstration. QSA was led by Sandia and MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
The discovery advances ion-trap quantum computing with cutting-edge capabilities, according to Quantum Science Center director Travis Humble. Fermilab Microelectronics Division chief Farah Fahim believes low-power cryoelectronics in these devices could speed up quantum computer scaling and sustain tens of thousands of electrodes.
Lessons and Future Plans
The experiment succeeded, but it identified technological barriers that will drive future growth. Researchers observed that Fermilab transistors behaved differently in the colder MIT Lincoln Laboratory environment, which affected control circuit operating range. Future systems will need circuits to retain voltages for minutes or hours, not milliseconds.
Robert McConnell of MIT Lincoln Laboratory says this demonstration of small-form-factor, low-noise electronics provides the framework for future hybrid-integrated systems, but there are still big barriers to overcome before technology can be scaled up. Future research will focus on directly attaching electronics to ion-trap devices to improve performance and scale arrays.
Broader Fermilab Quantum Research Context
This discovery is part of Fermilab's high-tech and quantum research ecosystem. Recent projects include building a laser lab for the world's largest vertical atom interferometer (MAGIS-100) and creating an open-source hardware framework that uses AI to make rapid decisions. Fermilab and NYU Langone Health are developing quantum computing-based quantitative MRI technologies.
Fermilab, the leading national accelerator research and particle physics facility, works with MIT Lincoln, a federally funded research and development center for advanced technologies and national security, to solve the hardest scientific problems. The latest cryoelectronic control milestone brings quantum computing closer to its full potential for science and society.