Precision atomic and quantum applications including computing and sensing and clocks will benefit from integration of lab-scale lasers and optics. In this talk we will cover integration of visible light to SWIR photonics and components for atom and trapped-ion cooling, trapping, state preparation and measurement.
Atomic clocks are an important part of many potential quantum sensors, in addition to constituting a type of quantum sensor in their own right. For many applications, high-performance clocks must be realized in a manner compatible with operation outside of a laboratory. In this talk, I will outline efforts at developing the integrated photonics technology needed to miniaturize optical atomic clocks, including our lab’s own efforts on nonlinear nanophotonics components. I will also discuss how such integrated photonics can also impact the development of other types of quantum sensors, and present some of the challenges involved in advancing these technologies.
Atomic ions controlled by laser light are among the leading candidates for large scale quantum computing. However operational systems today require vast scaling to reach levels capable of useful computational tasks. The integration of light delivery will be an essential component of this for the trapped-ion approach. I will describe results in which the use of photonics integrated into ion trap chips has allowed us to perform high fidelity two-qubit gates, which are an essential building block for quantum computers. These systems have now been extended to the operation of multiple trap zones, and the creation of novel optical fields for ion trap control while a new generation of chips allowing integration of all required wavelengths as well as optimised light delivery offers further enhancements in performance and scaling.
Integrating precise, stable, ultra-low noise visible light lasers into atomic systems is critical for advancing quantum information sciences and improving scalability and portability. Trapped ions are a leading approach for high-fidelity quantum computing, high-accuracy optical clocks, and precision quantum sensors. However, current ion-based systems rely on bulky, lab-scale precision lasers and optical stabilization cavities for optical clock and qubit operations, constraining the size, weight, scalability, and portability of atomic systems. Chip-scale integration of ultra-low noise lasers and reference cavities operating directly at optical clock transitions and capable of qubit and clock operations will represent a major transformation in atom and trapped ion-based quantum technologies. However, this goal has remained elusive. Here we report the first demonstration of chip-scale optical clock and qubit operations on a trapped ion using a photonic integrated direct-drive visible wavelength Brillouin laser stabilized to an integrated 3-meter coil-resonator reference cavity and the optical clock transition of a 88Sr+ ion trapped on a surface electrode chip. We also demonstrate for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, trapped-ion spectroscopy and qubit operations such as Rabi oscillations and high fidelity (99%) qubit state preparation and measurement (SPAM) using direct drive integrated photonic technologies without bulk optic stabilization cavities or second harmonic generation. Our chip-scale stabilized Brillouin laser exhibits a 6 kHz linewidth with the 0.4 Hz quadrupole transition of 88Sr+ and a self-consistent coherence time of 60 μs via Ramsey interferometry on the trapped ion qubit. Furthermore, we demonstrate the stability of the locked Brillouin laser to 5×10−13/τ at 1 second using dual optical clocks.