Towards Cycle-based Shuttling for Trapped-Ion Quantum Computers

The Quantum Charge Coupled Device (QCCD) architecture offers a modular solution to enable the realization of trappedion quantum computers with a large number of qubits. Within these devices, ions can be shuttled (moved) throughout the trap and through different dedicated zones. However, due to decoherence of the ions' quantum states, the qubits lose their quantum information over time. Thus, the shuttling needed for these shuttling operations should be minimized. In this extended abstract, we propose a concept towards a cycle-based heuristic approach to determining an efficient shuttling schedule for a given quantum circuit.