Generation of phase controlled single photons

Quantum computing and networking is a rapidly evolving area of research. Quantum computing has many potential uses ranging from material science to biology as well as developing new forms of intelligent AI. Quantum networking meanwhile, is needed to link these future processors together. Furthermore, it is the next big step in terms of digital security, with the very real possibility that current encryption methods are close to being broken, quantum networking allows us to develop protocols that are resistant to the flaws to classical techniques. A promising candidate for quantum networking platform is the trapped ion. Quantum states are easily manipulated and stored in the electronic states of ions, meanwhile, coupling the ion to an optical cavity allows us to map these states onto photons and transfer this information over great distances. In this thesis a brief overview of the ion trap and associated systems, such as frequency references and laser stabilisation techniques are described. The general theory for a Calcium ion coupled to a bimodal cavity is also presented. Furthermore, the necessary theoretical descriptions to understand experimental results is also given.Two experiments are performed, the first of which aims to drastically improve the indistinguishability of generated single photons by implementing a novel scheme that reduces the detrimental effects of spontaneous emission, this result directly links to the fidelity of performed operations. The second experiment demonstrates the systems use as a source of time-bin encoded photons, and compares the new scheme introduced in experiment one against a typically implemented one, to show this technique is only plausible with trapped ions using our novel scheme. These two experiments represent significant progress towards building a quantum network with trapped ions and are pre-requisites for future experiments involving entanglement of photons and ions, as well as ion-ion entanglement between remote traps.