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.
ReadOur 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. 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
ReadNew 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.
ReadCongratulations to Shilpa Mahato for successfully defending her MSc thesis titled “Mitigating Optical Crosstalk for In-Situ Mid-Circuit Measurement and Reset in a Trapped-Ion Quantum Simulator”! Check it out on UWSpace.
ReadCongratulations to Fabien Lefebvre for successfully defending his MSc thesis titled “Probing Micromotion in a Multi-Segmented Blade-Style Ion Trap”! Check it out on UWSpace.
ReadCongratulations to Dr. Yi Hong Teoh for successfully defending his PhD thesis titled “Autoregressive Generative Models for Many-body Physics”! Check it out on UWSpace.
ReadThe Bloodstone system has trapped its first ions! Shown here are a linear chain of 25 Yb ions. Longer chains of ions like these allow for larger and more powerful quantum simulations. Congratulations to everyone on the Bloodstone team for their hardwork in getting this result!
ReadCongratulations 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”!
ReadOur 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.
ReadCongratulations 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.
ReadOur paper on Microgram BaCl_2 Ablation Targets for Trapped Ion Experiments has been published in Review of Scientific Instruments! This is an experimental work from the QuantumIon project. Microgram BaCl_2 Ablation Targets for Trapped Ion Experiments Noah Greenberg, Akbar Jahangiri Jozani , Collin JC Epstein, Xinghe Tan , Rajibul Islam , Crystal Senko Review of Scientific Instruments 95, 045117 (2024) arXiv:2402.06632 Details
ReadLightFlow Optics, co-founded in 2024 by Sainath Motlakunta, Chung-You (Gilbert) Shih, and Prof. Rajibul Islam, is building a cloud-based platform to design, visualize, and fabricate optical circuits with faster iteration and streamlined handoff to manufacturing.
ReadOur paper investigating 2D ion crystals in a hybrid optical cavity trap has been published in PRA! This is a theoretical and numerical work. Investigations of 2D ion crystals in a hybrid optical cavity trap for quantum information processing Zewen Sun , Yi Hong Teoh , Fereshteh Rajabi , Rajibul Islam Phys. Rev. A 109, 032426 (2024) arXiv:2308.09231 Details
ReadCongratulations to Hawking Tan for successfully defending his MSc thesis on “Optimization of the Optical Infrastructure and Trapping Potential for a Quantum Processor Based on Trapped Barium Ions”! Hawking is continuing with the group for his PhD.
ReadCongratulations to Dr. Sainath Motlakunta for successfully defending his PhD thesis, “Developing a Large-Scale, Programmable Trapped Ion Quantum Simulator with In Situ Mid-Circuit Measurement and Reset”!
ReadCongratulations to Monica for successfully defending her MSc thesis “Towards Pulsed Telecom Laser Ablation Loading for an Ytterbium Ion Trap”! Monica will be continuing with the group for her PhD.
ReadOur paper on a guided light system for individual addressing of Ba+ qubits with 1E-4 level intensity crosstalk has been published in Quantum Science and Technology! This is an experimental work from the QuantumIon project.
ReadOur paper on Programmable XY-type couplings through parallel spin-dependent forces on the same trapped ion motional modes is now available on Arxiv! This is an experimental work from the QSim project. 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
ReadRajibul is promoted to associate professor with tenure. Thanks to all the present and past members of the team whose hard work and dedication made this possible!
ReadOur paper on Long-Range XY Model for Quantum State Transfer and Optimal Spatial Search has been published in Quantum Science and Technology! This is a theoretical work. Ion Trap Long-Range XY Model for Quantum State Transfer and Optimal Spatial Search Dylan Lewis, Leonardo Banchi, Yi Hong Teoh , Rajibul Islam , Sougato Bose Quantum Science and Technology 8, 035025 (2023) arXiv:2206.13685 Details
ReadOur paper on Fast and high-yield fabrication of axially symmetric ion-trap needle electrodes via two step electrochemical etching has been published in Review of Scientific Instruments! This is an experimental work. 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
ReadCongratulations to Anthony for successfully defending his MSc thesis on “Coherent interactions and thermometry in a trapped ion quantum simulator!” Anthony is continuing with the group for his PhD.
ReadCongratulations to Ali Binai-Motlagh for successfully defending his MSc thesis on optical addressing for individual Barium qubits! Ali will join Columbia University as a PhD student!
ReadOur paper on laser noise imposing limits on qubit control has been published in npj Quantum Information! This is a theoretical and numerical work. Limits on atomic qubit control from laser noise Matthew L. Day , Pei Jiang Low, Brendan M White, Rajibul Islam , Crystal Senko npj Quantum Information 8, 72 (2022) arXiv:2112.04946 Details
ReadCongratulations to Darian Mclaren for successfully defending his MSc thesis on On the evaluation of quantum instruments with a consideration to measurements in trapped ion systems!
ReadCongratulations to Zewen Sun for successfully defending his MSc thesis on theoretical investigations into optical trapping of ions! Zewen will next move to Max Planck Institute for a PhD in theoretical physics.
ReadCongratulations to Chung-You (Gilbert) Shih , a PhD student in the group for receiving the IQC Achievement Award, 2021! The awards are given to University of Waterloo graduate students working on quantum information at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), based on exceptional achievement in research. Gilbert was recognized for developing an ultra-precise optical addressing system for a trapped-ion quantum simulator. More about IQC Achievement Awards List of past winners
ReadCongratulations to Nikhil Kotibhaskar , a PhD student in the group for winning the best student presenter award at the annual Congress of the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP)! He first won the competition in the Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics category and then went on to win the national competition among all areas of physics. There were about 325 competitors and an 81-member judging team. Nikhil talked about our research on developing a trapped-ion quantum simulator.
ReadOur paper on ultra-precise holographic optical addressing of ions is published in npj Quantum Information! This is an experimental research. 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
ReadRajibul took part in a podcast on the National Public Radio (NPR) along with Emily Kwong and Geoff Brumfiel of NPR, Chris Monroe, co-founder of IonQ and Marissa Giustina, Google. A different version was aired on All Things Considered on 30 April 2021.
ReadOur manuscript titled “Manipulating phonons of a trapped-ion system using optical tweezers ” is on arXiv! This is a theoretical and numerical research. Manipulating phonons of a trapped-ion system using optical tweezers Yi Hong Teoh , Manas Sajjan , Zewen Sun , Fereshteh Rajabi , Rajibul Islam Phys. Rev. A 104, 022420 (2021) arXiv:2103.03273 Details
ReadUniversity of Waterloo and University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK hosted their first virtual research colloquium on 12 Nov, 2020. Nikolay presented a talk on behalf of the QuantumION project, focusing on our design for individual addressing of Barium qubits. His talk was judged to be the best UW presentation of the day! Congrats, Nik! UW press release Interview for the Writing and Communication Centre Blog
ReadRajibul received a President’s Excellence in Research award from the President and Vice-Chancellor of University of Waterloo in recognition of an Early Researcher Award from the Government of Ontario. IQC press release
ReadDr. Manas Sajjan defends his MSc thesis online! His MSc work included both theoretical and experimental aspects. On the theoretical side, Manas investigated the role of optical tweezer potentials on ions confined in a radio-frequency (RF) trap. Optical tweezers would allow for local control of the confining potential, which can be used for investigating quantum thermodynamics. On the experimental side, Manas was part of the team that built our four-rod trap. He fabricated the electrodes, built the RF resonator which powers them, and worked on optics.
ReadDAMOP (online) talks presented by Chung-You (Gilbert) Shih on individual addressing of ions and Dr. Matt Day on QuantumION. Posters were presented by Nikolay Videnov and Sainath Motlakunta.
ReadNikhil Kotibhaskar presents a talk at (virtual) TUCAN (Toronto Area Ultracold Atom Network), organized by University of Toronto. This is the third edition of the annual meeting. McMaster University and University of Waterloo hosted the meeting in the previous two years.
Read“Machine learning design of a trapped-ion quantum spin simulator” is published in Quantum Science and Technology 5 (2020) 024001, ( arXiv.1910.02496). We numerically demonstrate that a machine learning neural network can be used to efficiently solve a non-linear inversion problem in an analog trapped-ion quantum simulator. The method generates experimental control parameters (such as laser intensities on each ions) needed to program a quantum simulator, in particular, to engineer an arbitrary spin lattice geometry in one, two, and three dimensions using a linear chain of ions!
ReadHere is a pre-print version of a review article on quantum simulation with trapped ions. The article focuses on analog spin simulation, and discusses the progress in this field so far. (arxiv.1912.07845).
ReadOur manuscript “Machine learning design of a trapped-ion quantum spin simulator” is on arXiv.1910.02496. We demonstrate that a machine learning neural network can be used to efficiently engineer an arbitrary spin-spin interaction graph on an analog quantum simulator.
ReadRajibul is recognized with the Ontario ‘Early Researcher Award’! Read the IQC news coverage.
ReadCongratulations to Gilbert and Nikhil for successfully defending their master’s thesis! They will continue their journey with the QITI group as PhD students.
ReadHere’s a picture of eight laser-cooled Ytterbium (174 isotope) ions in a linear chain! The image was taken using an off-the-shelf Thorlabs 0.1 NA objective and a cheap (~$300) CMOS camera. The ions are approximately 8 microns apart. Read more on the Physics and Astronomy webpage.
ReadRajibul gives an invited talk at the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) congress at Simon Fraser University.
ReadWe have have trapped, laser-cooled, and crystallized Ytterbium ions in a four-rod Paul trap!
ReadSainath, Gilbert, and Rajibul are attending the DAMOP meeting of the American Physical Society at Milwuakee, WI. Sainath will present a contributed talk and Gilbert will present a poster. Matt Day from Crystal Senko’s group will also present a poster highlighting ‘QuantumIon’ a joint research project between Rajibul’s and Crystal’s group to build an open-access trapped ion quantum computer for researchers.
ReadDuale Omar and Josh Da Costa join the group as undergraduate co-op students for the Spring term. Welcome to the team!
ReadRajibul gives a seminar and interacts with researchers at the Center for Quantum Information and Control (CQuIC), University of New Mexico.
Read“Dynamical Hamiltonian engineering of 2D rectangular lattices in a one-dimensional ion chain” is published in npj Quantum Information (Nature Publishing Group). (npj Quantum Information 5, 32 (2019))
ReadTwo talks from the QITI group by Chung-You (Gilbert) Shih and Yi Hong Teoh were presented at the second Toronto Ultra-cold Atom Network (TUCAN) meeting hosted by University of Waterloo. Gilbert talked about efficient algorithms to generate amplitude holograms for optical manipulation, and Yi Hong discussed machine learning methods to program a quantum simulator.
ReadNatasha Willis and Daniel Julien-Nietzert join the group for the Winter term as undergraduate co-op students. Welcome to the team!
ReadDr. Manas Sajjan joins the group for a graduate school in experimental quantum physics, after successfully completing his first PhD at University of Chicago in theoretical chemistry!
ReadRajibul gives the ’experimentalist of the week’ talk at the Dynamics of Quantum Information program at KITP, UC Santa Barbara. [Video]
ReadOur experimentally feasible theoretical proposal to create 2D spin lattices from a one dimensional chain of ions is on arXiv! It is a collaboration with UC Berkeley and Army Research Laboratory. (arXiv.1808.06124).
ReadUndergraduate researcher Nikolay Videnov presents his work on making an injection locked diode laser at 369.5 nm at the Canadian Undergraduate Physics Conference (CUPC) at University of Alberta.
ReadSainath defends his M.Sc thesis successfully! He will continue as a PhD student in the group. Congratulations, Sainath!
ReadGilbert, Sainath, Nikhil, and Rajibul attend the annual meeting of the Division of Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics (DAMOP) of the American Physical Society (APS) in Fort Lauderdale. We present two posters.
ReadDr. Roland Hablutzel joins the QITI team as a postdoc from the Centre for Quantum Technologies, Singapore. We also welcome undergraduate researcher Yi Hong Teoh!
ReadEntire QITI team visits McMaster University to attend the first Toronto Ultracold Atoms Network (TUCAN) meeting. Fereshteh and Sainath give talks.
ReadUndergraduate researcher Kaleb Ruscitti presents our research on holographic beam shaping with UV light at the PhUnC conference at Western University.
ReadSainath Motlakunta joins the group to work on his M.Sc thesis project. Kaleb Ruscitti and Nikolay Videnov come back to the group as undergraduate researchers! Kaleb will spend his Jan-Apr co-op term, and Nik will spend his Jan-Aug co-op term in the lab!
ReadChung-You (Gilbert) Shih from National Taiwan University and Nikhil Kotibhaskar from Indian Institute of Science join the IQC-QITI group as graduate students.
ReadWe move into a temporary laboratory space on the third floor of the Quantum Nano Center! Our basement lab will undergo a major renovation before we can move into the space.
ReadTony Kappen and Kaleb Ruscitti join as the first two undergraduate researchers of the group!
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