Precision Physics and Quantum Computation with Individual Atomic Particles

by Dr. Günther Werth (University of Mainz)

Thursday 29 Apr 2004, 12:00 → 13:00 Europe/Madrid

Sala Seminarios IFIC (Edf. Institutos de Investigación)

Single charged particles can be stored virtually forever in ion traps in a well defined environment, cooled to very low temperatures and localised to extremely small volumes. They represent ideal objects for measurements of extreme precision. In my talk I will describe the basic features of ion traps and the methods to detect and identify a single stored particle. A recent application represents a precise measurement of the magnetic moment of the electron bound in an hydrogen-like ions, which serves as test of bound-state quantum electrodynamics. Based on our experience with single ions we have made a novel proposal to use single stored electrons for quantum computation. This proposal will be presented and its potential for future application will be discussed.