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Microwave-driven same-species sympathetic cooling for trapped ions
M. C. Smith, E. Vandrey, A. D. Leu, N. Drotleff, A. Agrawal, K. Miyanishi, D. M. Lucas, M. F. Gely·July 22, 2026
Quantum Physics
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Abstract
Sympathetic cooling of data qubits by coolant ions is an essential technique for trapped-ion quantum computing. Conventionally a second ion species is used, requiring additional lasers and complicating optical setups. We propose a scheme for sympathetic cooling using the same species and test it for $^{43}$Ca$^+$ ions. Pulsed sideband cooling and ion addressing are implemented via integrated microwave control, further simplifying optical requirements. We cool a two-ion gate mode close to its ground state ($\bar{n}\approx 0.16$) and benchmark an induced error on the data qubit of $1.7(4)\times 10^{-4}$ per cooling cycle.