We present a solid-state laser system that generates 750 mW of continuous-wave single-frequency output at 313 nm. Sum-frequency generation with fiber lasers at 1550 nm and 1051 nm produces up to 2 W at 626 nm. This visible light is then converted to UV by cavity-enhanced second-harmonic generation. The laser output can be tuned over a 495 GHz range, which includes the 9 Be + laser cooling and repumping transitions. This is the first report of a narrow-linewidth laser system with sufficient power to perform fault-tolerant quantum-gate operations with trapped 9 Be + ions by use of stimulated Raman transitions.
IntroductionTwo of the primary objectives in quantum information processing and computing, are scaling to large numbers of quantum gates, and achieving fault-tolerant gate operation [1][2]. A promising approach to achieving both objectives is to use trapped ions, in which the quantum information is encoded on internal atomic states [3]. Efforts to improve ion-trap scalability have focused on multizone arrays [4][5], with complex surface-electrode geometries that provide multiple trapping zones [6]. These traps include control electrodes that enable the shuttling of ions between zones that are used to perform gate operations, state detection, and information storage. For fault-tolerant two-qubit (quantum bit) gate operations, error-correction protocols have been proposed [7][8], but these require a sufficiently low error per gate (typically assumed to be less that 10 -4 ), and this threshold has not yet been achieved. In one approach, qubits are encoded into ground-state hyperfine states, since these are very well isolated from environmental effects that cause memory error. However, gate operations are usually performed via optical transitions with laser beams, leading to spontaneous emission that dominates gate error. Spontaneous emission is reduced by a large detuning from atomic resonance, but then higher laser powers required to maintain the gate speed. For example, Ozeri et al. calculate that with the commonly trapped ion species of 9 Be + , 25 Mg + , and 43 Ca + , in order to reach the fault-tolerant regime for a two-qubit phase gate, one needs narrow-linewidth, continuous-wave (cw) laser power in the range of 140 mW to 540 mW (and detuning from atomic resonance on the THz scale) [9].The most challenging aspect of developing laser sources for this purpose is that most of the wavelengths are in the UV region. For trapped 43 Ca + ions, the required 729 nm or 397 nm light can be generated directly with semiconductor lasers; but for the shorter wavelengths needed for most other trapped-ion species, the traditional approach has been to frequency-double the visible output from a ring dye laser. While solid-state lasers have replaced gas and dye lasers in many spectral regions, some wavelengths have remained difficult to produce. [11]. Their setup includes a frequencydoubled Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm, a titanium sapphire laser at 760 nm, and sum-frequency generation (SFG) in an enhancement cavity resona...