arXiv subjects

Sean Brudney

Publications and source records attributed to Sean Brudney.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Mid-circuit ground-state cooling and ancilla readout in the $\textit{omg}$ architecture

The trapped-ion optical-metastable-ground ($\textit{omg}$) architecture for quantum processors promises the full functionality of two-species experiments, including sympathetic cooling and non-destructive ancilla readout, without the corresponding hardware overhead. We confirm that we can cool a global motional mode of a mixed metastable-ground state Coulomb crystal to the motional ground state via dissipative operations on the ground ($\textit{g}$) qubit without disturbing coherence of the metastable ($\textit{m}$) qubit. This enables quantum logic spectroscopy to non-destructively readout the state of the $\textit{m}$ qubit using fluorescence detection of the $\textit{g}$ qubit. Extensions of these demonstrations to larger system sizes should enable the mitigation of motional heating after ion shuttling and syndrome extraction for quantum error correction, both crucial primitives for future fault-tolerant quantum computers based on trapped ions.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Four- and six-photon stimulated Raman transitions for coherent qubit and qudit operations

Quantum computers are typically composed of an array of two-level systems, or qubits, encoded in some information carrier, such as an electron, photon, or quantized circuit. The size of this array is restricted by finite access to resources like laser power, cooling capacity, and control lines for trapping and manipulation. Under these constraints, the system's processing power can be increased by using more energy levels per information carrier, but common techniques for qubit control provide only limited connectivity between these additional states. We experimentally demonstrate transitions between electronic angular momentum states with a difference in magnetic quantum numbers $\Delta \mathrm{m_J} = $ 3, 4, and 5 via resonant four- and six-photon stimulated Raman transitions in a single trapped atom. Derivation of the corresponding Rabi frequencies, which are verified experimentally, follows the standard treatment of two-photon transitions including the adiabatic elimination of intermediate states. Finally, we discuss pathways to increase the observed multi-photon transition fidelities to $>99.99\%$, providing a tool for efficient, high-fidelity control of qudits and single-atom logical qubits.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Observing super-quantum correlations across the exceptional point in a single, two-level trapped ion

Quantum theory provides rules governing much of the microscopic world, and among its counter-intuitive consequences are correlations that exceed the bounds from local, classical theories. In two-level quantum systems - qubits - unitary dynamics theoretically limit these spatiotemporal quantum correlations, called Bell/Clauser-Horn-Shimony-Holt or Leggett-Garg inequalities, to $2\sqrt{2}$ or 1.5 respectively. Experiments with state-of-the-art qubits have approached the spatial, Bell and temporal, Leggett-Garg quantum correlation bounds. Here, using a dissipative, trapped $^{40}$Ca$^+$ ion governed by a two-level, non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, we observe temporal correlation values up to 1.703(4) for the Leggett-Garg parameter $K_3$, clearly exceeding the hitherto inviolable Lüder's bound of 1.5. These excesses occur across the exceptional point of the parity-time symmetric Hamiltonian responsible for the qubit's non-unitary, coherent dynamics. Distinct evolution speeds for antipodal qubit states, which violate the unified (Mendelstam-Tamm or Margolus-Levitin) bound $τ_{\textrm{QSL}}$ for the transit time based on quantum speed limit, result in the super-quantum $K_3$ values observed over a wide parameter range. Our results demonstrate that post-selected, coherent dynamics of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians pave the way for enhanced quantum correlations that exceed protocols based on unitary or dissipative dynamics.

quant-ph↗