Insider Brief
Researchers experimentally identified previously unexplored long-lived metastable states in ytterbium ions, with measured lifetimes of about 1 second, 10 seconds and evidence of a state lasting more than 30 seconds.
The newly characterized states could improve trapped-ion quantum computers and atomic clocks by enabling more efficient qubit and qudit state detection, particularly through a metastable state that can be accessed with a single laser pulse.
The measurements also provide experimental confirmation of a 35-year-old theoretical prediction about a metastable ytterbium ion state, validating calculations made in 1990 about its long lifetime.
PRESS RELEASE — Researchers from the Universities of Amsterdam and New South Wales have answered a question that has been around for decades: whether ions of the metal ytterbium can enter certain long-lived and nearly stable states, and if so, for how long. The measured long-lived states may find applications in quantum computers and atomic clocks.
