System scalability is fundamental for large-scale quantum computers (QCs) and is being pursued over a variety of hardware platforms. For QCs based on trapped ions, architectures such as the quantum charge-coupled device (QCCD) are used to scale the number of qubits on a single device. However, the number of ions that can be hosted on a single quantum computing module is limited by the size of the chip being used. Therefore, a modular approach is of critical importance and requires quantum connections between individual modules. Here, we present the demonstration of a quantum matter-link in which ion qubits are transferred between adjacent QC modules. Ion transport between adjacent modules is realised at a rate of 2424s−1 and with an infidelity associated with ion loss during transport below 7×10−8. Furthermore, we show that the link does not measurably impact the phase coherence of the qubit. The quantum matter-link constitutes a practical mechanism for the interconnection of QCCD devices. Our work will facilitate the implementation of modular QCs capable of fault-tolerant utility-scale quantum computation.
@article{arxiv.2203.14062,
title = {A high-fidelity quantum matter-link between ion-trap microchip modules},
author = {M. Akhtar and F. Bonus and F. R. Lebrun-Gallagher and N. I. Johnson and M. Siegele-Brown and S. Hong and S. J. Hile and S. A. Kulmiya and S. Weidt and W. K. Hensinger},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2203.14062},
year = {2023}
}