History of The Paul Trap
The electrodynamic trap currently used in trapped ion quantum computing research was invented in the 1950s by Wolfgang Paul (who received the Nobel Prize in 1989 for his work). Charged particles cannot be trapped in 3D just by electrostatic forces because of Earnshaw's theorem, since Laplace's equation for electrostatics does not allow confining potentials in all three orthogonal directions. Instead, an electric field oscillating at radio frequency (RF) is applied, forming a potential with the shape of a saddle spinning at the RF frequency. If the RF field has the right parameters (oscillation frequency and field strength), the charged particle cannot leave the central region of this saddle potential because of inertia, and become effectively trapped at the saddle point. The particle's motion is described by a set of Mathieu equations in this situation.
Read more about this topic: Trapped Ion Quantum Computer
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