A Deterministic Single Ion Fountain

Abstract

We present an alternative approach for interconnecting trapped ion processor nodes by a deterministic single ion transfer out of the trap, into a free space trajectory, followed by recapture in the trapping potential. Our experimental realization yields a success probability of 95.1%, namely 715 out of 752 extracted ions are retrapped, cooled and observed after a transport distance of 110mm and a time of flight of 7 $\mu$s. Based on the near-unity operation success, we discuss its application for scalable ion trap quantum computing and advanced quantum sensing.