ECE Departmental Seminar
Storage Rings as Quantum Computers
Dr. Kevin Brown
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Friday, 8/16/19, 11:00am
Light Engineering 250
Abstract: There are multiple ways that quantum computer elements have been realized and have
been proposed to be realized. These include ion traps, Josephson junctions, Nuclear
Magnetic Resonance spin states and optical systems. In this presentation, I will present
a new idea; using a storage ring as a quantum computer. The key to building a storage
ring quantum computer is to create an ultracold beam in the form of an “ion Coulomb
crystal”. In a classical Coulomb crystal, a chain of ions is bound into a lattice
structure in which the ions remain locked in sequence despite the mutual Coulomb repulsion
force between the positively charged ions. In an ion Coulomb crystal, the thermal
vibrations of the ions are cooled to extremely low temperature, so that the quantum
states in the motion of the ions are observable. There are a number of challenges
in realizing such a system, although much can be learned from ion trap systems, since
the storage ring is essentially an unbounded ion trap where the ion chains have a
finite velocity.