Quantum Computation with Ions in Thermal Motion

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

We propose an implementation of quantum logic gates via virtual vibrational excitations in an ion-trap quantum computer. Transition paths involving unpopulated vibrational states interfere destructively to eliminate the dependence of rates and revolution frequencies on vibrational quantum numbers. As a consequence, quantum computation becomes feasible with ions whose vibrations are strongly coupled to a thermal reservoir.