Spontaneous Raman scattering out of a metastable atomic qubit
Phys. Rev. A 112, 033106 – Published 12 September, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/vlz1-s6zl
Abstract
Metastable qubits in atomic systems can enable large-scale quantum computing by simplifying hardware requirements and adding efficient erasure conversion to the preexisting toolbox of high-fidelity laser-based control. For trapped atomic ions, the fundamental error floor of this control is given by spontaneous Raman and Rayleigh scattering from short-lived excited states. We measure spontaneous Raman scattering rates out of a metastable qubit manifold of a single trapped ion illuminated by 976 nm light that is THz detuned from the dipole-allowed transition to the manifold. This supports the calculation of error rates from both types of scattering during one- and two-qubit gates on this platform, thus demonstrating that infidelities less than are possible.
