Quantum networking and vortex field experiments with Strontium ions

The strontium ion is an ideal candidate for medium-distance quantum networking due to an atomic transition at 1.1 um, a wavelength compatible with existing fiber optic infrastructure. This transition eliminates the need for lossy photon conversion processes, allowing for direct remote entanglement on the kilometer scale. In this poster we discuss the design and current progress towards the assembly of a strontium trapped-ion system for remote entanglement. The final qubit states in our photon-generation scheme lie in the D_3/2 level and differ by Δm_j = 2. We propose a scheme for driving this dipole-forbidden transition using a microwave vortex field, which carries a unit of orbital angular momentum in addition to that of the photon spin. It will also allow us to measure the ratio of E2 and M1 multipoles in this transition, which has not previously been measured.