  We investigate the motional dynamics of single and multiple ions during
transport between and separation into spatially distinct locations in a
multi-zone linear Paul trap. A single 9Be+ ion in a 2 MHz harmonic well located
in one zone was laser-cooled to near its ground state of motion and transported
370 micrometers by moving the well to another zone. This was accomplished in 8
microseconds, corresponding to 16 periods of oscillation. Starting from a state
with n=0.1 quanta, during transport the ion was excited to a displaced coherent
state with n=1.6 quanta but on completion was returned close to its motional
ground state with n=0.2. Similar results were achieved for the transport of two
ions. We also separated chains of up to 9 ions from one potential well to two
distinct potential wells. With two ions this was accomplished in 55
microseconds, with final excitations of about 2 quanta for each ion. Fast
coherent transport and separation can significantly reduce the time overhead in
certain architectures for scalable quantum information processing with trapped
ions.
