Electric-field noise from carbon-adatom diffusion on a Au(110) surface: first-principles calculations and experiments

Abstract

The decoherence of trapped-ion quantum gates due to heating of their motional modes is a fundamental science and engineering problem. This heating is attributed to electric-field noise arising from the trap-electrode surfaces. In this work, we investigate the source of this noise by focusing on the diffusion of carbon-containing adsorbates on the surface of Au(110). We show by density functional theory, based on detailed scanning probe microscopy, how the carbon adatom diffusion on the gold surface changes the energy landscape, and how the adatom dipole moment varies with the diffusive motion. A simple model for the diffusion noise, which varies quadratically with the variation of the dipole moment, qualitatively reproduces the measured noise spectrum, and the estimate of the noise spectral density is in accord with measured values.

8 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Scaling and Suppression of Anomalous Quantum Decoherence in Ion Traps
• Temperature Dependence of Electric Field Noise Above Gold Surfaces
• Simplified motional heating rate measurements of trapped ions
• Controlling trapping potentials and stray electric fields in a microfabricated ion trap through design and compensation
• Measurements of trapped-ion heating rates with exchangeable surfaces in close proximity

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Crystallographic orientation dependence of work function: Carbon adsorption on Au surfaces
• Phonon-laser ultrasensitive force sensor