Dr. Sainath Motlakunta

Position: Postdoctoral fellow (Nov 2023 - 2024), PhD / MSc student (2018-2023)

Extension: x39025

Office: QNC 3202

Current institution: IonQ

Sainath was a PhD student (2018-23) in the QITI group developing a ‘blade’ trap quantum simulator. Previously, he did his MSc thesis from the same group, focusing on analog-digital hybrid quantum simulation protocols.

Publications

9. A Room-Temperature Extreme High Vacuum System for Trapped-Ion Quantum Information Processing

Lewis Hahn , Nikhil Kotibhaskar , Fabien Lefebvre , Sakshee Patil , Sainath Motlakunta , Mahmood Sabooni , Rajibul Islam

arXiv:2512.11794

Details

8. Optical field characterization at the fundamental limit of spatial resolution with a trapped ion

Nikhil Kotibhaskar , Sainath Motlakunta , Anthony Vogliano , Lewis Hahn , Rajibul Islam

arXiv:2509.07214 [Link]

Details

7. Preserving a qubit during state-destroying operations on an adjacent qubit at a few micrometers distance

Sainath Motlakunta , Nikhil Kotibhaskar , Chung-You Shih , Anthony Vogliano , Darian McLaren , Lewis Hahn , Jingwen Zhu , Roland Hablützel , Rajibul Islam

Nature Communications 15, 6575 (2024)

Details

6. Programmable XY-type couplings through parallel spin-dependent forces on the same trapped ion motional modes

Nikhil Kotibhaskar , Chung-You Shih , Sainath Motlakunta , Anthony Vogliano , Lewis Hahn , Yu-Ting Chen , Rajibul Islam

Physical Review Research 6, 033038 (2024)

Details

5. Developing a Large-Scale, Programmable Trapped Ion Quantum Simulator with In Situ Mid-Circuit Measurement and Reset

Sainath Motlakunta, PhD thesis .

University of Waterloo [Thesis link]

Details

4. Fast and high-yield fabrication of axially symmetric ion-trap needle electrodes via two step electrochemical etching

Nikhil Kotibhaskar , Noah Greenberg, Sainath Motlakunta , Chung-You Shih , Rajibul Islam

Review of Scientific Instruments 94, 033201 (2023) arXiv:2206.14784

Details

3. Reprogrammable and high-precision holographic optical addressing of trapped ions for scalable quantum control

Chung-You Shih , Sainath Motlakunta , Nikhil Kotibhaskar , Manas Sajjan , Roland Hablützel , Rajibul Islam

npj Quantum Information 7, 57 (2021)

Details

2. Dynamical Hamiltonian engineering of 2D rectangular lattices in a one-dimensional ion chain

F. Rajabi , S. Motlakunta , C. Shih , N. Kotibhaskar , Q. Quraishi, A. Ajoy, R. Islam

npj Quantum Information 5, 32 (2019) arXiv:1808.06124

Details

1. Developing Theoretical and Experimental Tools for a Hybrid Quantum Simulator Based on Trapped Ions

Sainath Motlakunta, MSc thesis .

University of Waterloo [Thesis link]

Details