Harnessing ¹³³Ba⁺ Qubits for Quantum Computing

The ¹³³Ba⁺ trapped ion qubit provides many advantageous qualities for trapped ion quantum technology, including nuclear spin I = 1/2, visible wavelength cooling transitions, and a long lived (τ = 30s) metastable D_5/2 state.This also makes it the ideal candidate to implement the omg (optical-metastable-ground) architecture that utilizes three qubit encodings in a single atom. We

focus on innovative methods for initializing, manipulating, and reading out the quantum states of ¹³³Ba⁺ qubits. Our research explores improved coherence times and reduced error rates through microwave and Raman gates. We address the use of ¹³³Ba⁺ ions in scalable quantum architectures, such as integrated photonics and demonstrate its advantages over other ion species in operational stability and decoherence minimization. We present advances in the photoionization and loading of barium trapped ions. We will highlight a novel scheme for two step autoionization through the 5d6p³D₁ level. This resonant photoionization technique allows for isotope selective ionization of low abundance barium isotopes.