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
9 Sep 2024 - Nikhil defends his PhD thesis!
Congratulations to Dr. Nikhil Kotibhaskar for successfully defending his PhD thesis titled “Towards Large Scale Quantum Simulations with Trapped Ions: Programmable XY model, Precise Light Sensing, and Extreme High Vacuum”!
03 August 2024 - paper on Preserving qubits during adjacent site measurement is now available in Nature Communications
Our paper on Preserving a qubit during adjacent measurements at a few micrometers distance is now available ! This is an experimental work from the QSim project.
19 Apr 2024 - Lewis defends his MSc thesis!
Congratulations to Lewis Hahn for successfully defending his MSc thesis on “Developing a robust quantum simulator with trapped ions”! Lewis is continuing with the group for his PhD.
Recent Publications
Preserving a qubit during state-destroying operations on an adjacent qubit at a few micrometers distance
Abstract: Protecting qubits from accidental measurements is essential for controlled quantum operations, especially during state-destroying measurements or resets on adjacent qubits, in protocols like quantum error correction. Current methods to preserve atomic qubits against such disturbances waste coherence time, extra qubits, and introduce additional errors. We demonstrate the feasibility of in-situ state-reset and state-measurement of trapped ions, achieving >99.
Programmable XY-type couplings through parallel spin-dependent forces on the same trapped ion motional modes
Abstract: We propose and experimentally demonstrate an analog scheme for generating XY-type (Jx XX + Jy YY) Hamiltonians on trapped ion spins with independent control over the Jx and Jy terms. The Ising-type interactions σixσjx and σiyσjy are simultaneously generated by employing two spin-dependent forces operating in parallel on the same set of normal modes.
Microgram BaCl_2 Ablation Targets for Trapped Ion Experiments
Abstract: Trapped ions for quantum information processing has been an area of intense study due to the extraordinarily high fidelity operations that have been reported experimentally. Specifically, barium trapped ions have been shown to have exceptional state-preparation and measurement (SPAM) fidelities. The 133Ba+ (I=1/2) isotope in particular is a promising candidate for large-scale quantum computing experiments.
