Ultra-Cold CsLi Molecules as a Platform for Quantum Information Processing

Abstract

Despite their proposal 40 years ago, quantum computers are still in their infancy, with a panoply of various systems demonstrated as potential methods of quantum information processing. Rydberg atoms are a leading platform, but their method of performing entangling operations is limited by the natural lifetimes of Rydberg states, which is on the order of 100 microseconds. Molecules could perform entangling gates similar to Rydberg atoms with the advantage that molecular states are much longer lived, on the order of 100s of milliseconds. Despite this, no experiment has been performed using molecules for quantum computing. This thesis investigates the feasibility of using molecules for quantum computing as well as presents a new method for producing an atomic beam, designed by the author, that allows for a more economical production of atoms while avoiding heating problems present with traditional ovens.