UMass⁺ Trapped Ions | Trapped Ions and Photonics at UMass

Welcome to the UMass Amherst Trapped Ion Lab!

The UMass⁺ Trapped Ions lab is developing integrated technologies like photonics for trapped ion QPUs. One of the main obstacles for large scale and fault tolerant quantum computation with trapped ion qubits is the difficulty of individually addressing multiple ions using external optical lenses. Developing trapped ion QPUs with integrated photonics and other integrated technologies like RF/DC electronics and detectors may enable the next generation of quantum hardware towards large scale quantum computers and practical applications.

SEM of UMass logo in the trap metal of an ion trap test chip after fabrication.

We have open positions if you’re interested in joining our lab.

The UMass Room Temperature Ion Trap Vacuum Chamber

Prior Work at MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Image above shows real data of laser beam profiles emitted from photonic grating couplers in the surface of a trapped ion QPU. Each beam was profiled independently and then superimposed over an image of the chip surface. Ions trapped at the intersection of the beams were controlled entirely via integrated photonics for the first time. (Chip was designed, fabricated and characterized entirely at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, results published in Nature.)

Recent work by PI while at MITLL demonstrating multiple photonic zones of interaction on a trapped ion QIP with shuttling to a centralized external beam detection zone.

Check out our research page for more details.
As well as this this recent invited talk:
https://ny-creates.org/dr-robert-niffenegger/
(Slides available here)