Laser-cooled trapped ions are among the most pristine and controllable quantum systems. Research performed in Prof. Islam’s group is currently focused on the following:
- Quantum simulation: The QITI laboratory is building a programmable trapped-ion quantum simulator with 171Yb+ qubits, with optical controls at the level of individual ions for studying problems in quantum many-body physics and computation.
- QuantumION: In collaboration with Prof. Crystal Senko’s group and supported by Transformative Quantum Technologies (TQT) , we are building QuantumION, a trapped-ion quantum simulator/computer based on a chain of 133Ba+ ions. 133Ba+ is regarded as the ‘Goldilocks qubit’ for their many wonderful properties including long lived metastable states, availability of spin-1/2 hyperfine qubits, and optical transitions in the visible range.
- Quantum simulation algorithms: We research on classical and quantum algorithms to make quantum simulation more efficient, e.g. by using modern machine learning methods. We collaborate with the Perimeter Institute Quantum Intelligence Laboratory
Job opportunities
We acknowledge financial support from University of Waterloo, NSERC, Government of Ontario, US ARO, and Transformative Quantum Technologies (TQT, CFREF).
Recent News
10 Sep 2025 - Ali defends his MSc thesis!
Congratulations to Ali Mustafa Khatai for successfully defending his MSc thesis titled “Vacuum assembly, atomic source development and micromotion studies for a trapped Ba+ based quantum processor”! Check it out on UWSpace.
10 Sep 2025 - paper on Optical Field Characterization with Ions is now up on Arxiv!
Our paper on characterizing optical fields using ions is now available on the Arxiv! This is an experimental work from the QSim project that shows how ions can not only be used as a platform for quantum information processing, but also to calibrate beams in high-NA systems.
3 Sep 2025 - Welcome to the new graduate students: Mu, Faizan, and Chris!
New ion trappers have joined the QITI Lab! Welcome to Mu Niu , Faizan Samad , and Chris Graham ! Faizan and Chris are new MSc students. Mu is a PhD student jointly supervised by Dr. Roger Melko.
Recent Publications
Optical field characterization at the fundamental limit of spatial resolution with a trapped ion
Abstract: Optical systems capable of generating fields with sub-wavelength spatial features have become standard in science and engineering research and industry. Pertinent examples include atom- and ion-based quantum computers and optical lithography setups. So far, no tools exist to characterize such fields - both intensity and polarization - at sub-wavelength length scales.
Autoregressive Generative Models for Many-body Physics
Many body physics, the study of emergent behavior from the microscopic interactions between countless degrees of freedom, is fundamental to our understanding of the universe. Understanding these systems enable the design and development of everything from materials, pharmaceuticals and even machine learning algorithms. However, to our knowledge, classical simulation of these systems are naturally insufficient and or inefficient.
pySLM2: A full-stack python package for holographic beam shaping
Abstract: Holographic beam shaping using spatial light modulators (SLMs) as a reprogrammable hologram offers a powerful tool for precise and flexible optical controls. It has been adopted for a wide range of researches, including atom trapping, optical addressing of individual quantum objects, preparation of exotic quantum states, and multi-beam laser machining.
