Quantum Computing: Temperature Scaling of Decoherence
After years of effort by quantum scientists, decoherence due to thermal effects still remains a huge hindrance to the upscaling of quantum computers. This thesis presents the temperature scaling of decoherence in a trapped-ion qubit. Microscopic quantum noise simulations are carried out. The resulting numerical scaling laws of coherence times, T1 and T2, are presented. The results enable experimentalists to determine, as a function of temperature, an upper bound for the time over which a quantum computer can be operated without a disastrous loss of quantum coherence, and the duration over which a memory qubit retains its information. Given the tradeoff between the enormous resource overhead demanded by quantum error correction protocols and the adverse effects of decoherence, the results provide guidance for the implementation and optimization of practical error suppression methods in the current era of quantum computers.