Single-electron qubits in a planar Penning trap

Planar Penning traps could provide a scalable architecture for one electron qubits. A prototype trap was designed with the optimal geometry, fabricated with minimal imperfections, and tested to characterize its properties. A number of narrow axial resonances from loaded electrons have been measured, showing this planar trap to be sufficiently harmonic to detect electron clouds of small sizes, down to those consistent with a single electron. These would offer the possibility of building an array of coupled single-electron qubits for quantum information studies.