Integrated-photonics-based systems for polarization-gradient cooling of trapped ions

Sabrina M. Corsetti; Ashton Hattori; Ethan R. Clements; Felix W. Knollmann; Milica Notaros; Reuel Swint; Tal Sneh; Patrick T. Callahan; Gavin N. West; Dave Kharas; Thomas Mahony; Colin D. Bruzewicz; Cheryl Sorace-Agaskar; Robert McConnell; Isaac L. Chuang; John Chiaverini; Jelena Notaros

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-02094-4

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

Integrated-photonics-based systems for polarization-gradient cooling of trapped ions

Original Articles

- Integrated-photonics-based systems for polarization-gradient cooling of trapped ions
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 15, Issue 3, Pages: 728-745(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
  2.Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lexington, MA 02421, USA
- Author bio：
  
  Jelena Notaros (notaros@mit.edu)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-02094-4
  CLC：
- Received：14 March 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-10-01，
  
  Accepted：12 October 2025，
  
  Online First：15 January 2026，
  
  Published：31 March 2026
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Corsetti, S. M., Hattori, A., Clements, E. R. et al. Integrated-photonics-based systems for polarization-gradient cooling of trapped ions. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 728-745 (2026).
DOI：

Corsetti, S. M., Hattori, A., Clements, E. R. et al. Integrated-photonics-based systems for polarization-gradient cooling of trapped ions. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 728-745 (2026). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-02094-4.

摘要

Abstract

Trapped ions are a promising modality for quantum systems

with demonstrated utility as the basis for quantum processors and optical clocks. However

traditional trapped-ion systems are implemented using complex free-space optical configurations

whose large size and susceptibility to vibrations and drift inhibit scaling to large numbers of qubits. In recent years

integrated-photonics-based systems have been demonstrated as an avenue to address the challenge of scaling trapped-ion systems while maintaining high fidelities. While these previous demonstrations have implemented both Doppler and resolved-sideband cooling of trapped ions

these cooling techniques are fundamentally limited in efficiency. In contrast

polarization-gradient cooling can enable faster and more power-efficient cooling and

therefore

improved computational efficiencies in trapped-ion systems. While free-space implementations of polarization-gradient cooling have demonstrated advantages over other cooling mechanisms

polarization-gradient cooling has never previously been implemented using integrated photonics. In this paper

we design and experimentally demonstrate key polarization-diverse integrated-photonics devices and utilize them to implement a variety of integrated-photonics-based polarization-gradient-cooling systems

culminating in the first experimental demonstration of polarization-gradient cooling of a trapped ion by an integrated-photonics-based system. By demonstrating polarization-gradient cooling using an integrated-photonics-based system and

in general

opening up the field of polarization-diverse integrated-photonics-based devices and systems for trapped ions

this work facilitates new capabilities for integrated-photonics-based trapped-ion platforms.

关键词

Keywords

references

Myerson, A. H. et al. High-fidelity readout of trapped-ion qubits. Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 , 200502 (2008)..

Brown, K. R. et al. Single-qubit-gate error below 10 −4 in a trapped ion. Phys. Rev. A 84 , 030303 (2011)..

Benhelm, J. et al. Towards fault-tolerant quantum computing with trapped ions. Nat. Phys. 4 , 463–466 (2008)..

Bruzewicz, C. D. et al. Trapped-ion quantum computing: progress and challenges. Appl. Phys. Rev. 6 , 021314 (2019)..

Nam, Y. et al. Ground-state energy estimation of the water molecule on a trapped-ion quantum computer. npj Quantum Inf. 6 , 33 (2020)..

Wright, K. et al. Benchmarking an 11-qubit quantum computer. Nat. Commun. 10 , 5464 (2019)..

Brewer, S. M. et al. 27 Al + quantum-logic clock with a systematic uncertainty below 10 -18 . Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 , 033201 (2019)..

Ruster, T. et al. Entanglement-based DC magnetometry with separated ions. Phys. Rev. X 7 , 031050 (2017)..

Delehaye, M. & Lacroûte, C. Single-ion, transportable optical atomic clocks. J. Mod. Opt. 65 , 622–639 (2018)..

Chauhan, N. et al. Trapped ion qubit and clock operations with a visible wavelength photonic coil resonator stabilized integrated Brillouin laser. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2402.16742 https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2402.16742 (2024).

Loh, W. et al. Optical atomic clock interrogation using an integrated spiral cavity laser. Nat. Photonics 19 , 277–283 (2025)..

Niffenegger, R. J. et al. Integrated multi-wavelength control of an ion qubit. Nature 586 , 538–542 (2020)..

Mehta, K. K. et al. Integra ted optical multi-ion quantum logic. Nature 586 , 533–537 (2020)..

Mordini, C. et al. Multi-zone trapped-ion qubit control in an integrated photonics QCCD device. Phys. Rev. X 15 , 011040 (2025)..

Kwon, J. et al. Multi-site integrated optical addressing of trapped ions. Nat. Commun. 15 , 3709 (2024)..

Sorace-Agaskar, C. et al. Versatile silicon nitride and alumina integrated photonic platforms for the ultraviolet to short-wave infrared. IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 25 , 8201515 (2019)..

Wineland, D. J. & Itano, W. M. Laser cooling of atoms. Phys. Rev. A 20 , 1521–1540 (1979)..

Stenholm, S. Laser cooling and trapping. Eur. J. Phys. 9 , 242–249 (1988)..

Dehmelt, H. G. Entropy reduction by motional sideband excitation. Nature 262 , 777 (1976)..

Schliesser, A. et al. Resolved-sideband cooling of a micromechanical oscillator. Nat. Phys. 4 , 415–419 (2008)..

Mouradian, S. Scaling up a trapped-ion quantum computer. Physics 16 , 209 (2023)..

Moses, S. A. et al. A race-track trapped-ion quantum processor. Phys. Rev. X 13 , 041052 (2023)..

Pino, J. M. et al. Demonstration of the trapped-ion quantum CCD computer architecture. Nature 592 , 209–213 (2021)..

Joshi, M. K. et al. Polarization-gradient cooling of 1D and 2D ion Coulomb crystals. N. J. Phys. 22 , 103013 (2020)..

Dalibard, J. & Cohen-Tannoudji, C. Laser cooling below the Dopplerlimit by polarization gradients: simple theoretical models. J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 6 , 2023–2045 (1989)..

Birkl, G. et al. Polarization gradient cooling of trapped ions. Europhys. Lett. 27 , 197–202 (1994)..

Ejtemaee, S. & Haljan, P. C. 3D Sisyphus cooling of trapped ions. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119 , 043001 (2017)..

Maslennikov, G. et al. Quantum absorption refrigerator with trapped ions. Nat. Commun. 10 , 202 (2019)..

Spektor, G. et al. Universal visible emitters in nanoscale integrated photonics. Optica 10 , 871–879 (2023)..

Massai, L. et al. Pure circularly polarized light emission from waveguide microring resonators. Appl. Phys. Lett. 121 , 121101 (2022)..

Beck, G. J., Home, J. P. & Mehta, K. K. Grating design methodology for tailored free-space beam-forming. J. Lightwave Technol. 42 , 4939–4951 (2024)..

Clements, E. et al. Sub-Doppler cooling of a trapped ion in a phase-stable polarization gradient. Phys. Rev. Lett. (2026).

Chiaverini, J. et al. Surface-electrode architecture for ion-trap quantum information processing. Quantum Inf. Comput. 5 , 419–439 (2005)..

Häffner, H., Roos, C. F. & Blatt, R. Quantum computing with trapped ions. Phys. Rep. 469 , 155–203 (2008)..

Corsetti, S. et al. Integrated polarization-diverse grating emitters for trapped-ion quantum systems. In Proceedings of the Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science 2023 . JTu7A. 3 (Optica Publishing Group, 2023).

Mehta, K. K. & Ram, R. J. Precise and diffraction-limited waveguide-to-free-space focusing gratings. Sci. Rep. 7 , 2019 (2017)..

Notaros, J. et al. Ultra-efficient CMOS fiber-to-chip grating couplers. In Proceedings of the Optical Fiber Communication Conference M2I. 5 (Optica Publishing Group, 2016).

Notaros, J. & Popović, M. A. Finite-difference complex-wavevector band structure solver for analysis and design of periodic radiative microphotonic structures. Opt. Lett. 40 , 1053–1056 (2015)..

ANSYS, Inc. Ansys Lumerical grating coupler. at https://optics.ansys.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042305334-Grating-coupler https://optics.ansys.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042305334-Grating-coupler .

Wohlfeil, B., Zimmermann, L. & Petermann, K. Optimization of fiber grating couplers on SOI using advanced search algorithms. Opt. Lett. 39 , 3201–3203 (2014)..

The MathWorks, Inc. Optimization toolbox. at https://www.mathworks.com/help/optim/index.html https://www.mathworks.com/help/optim/index.html .

Chrostowski, L. & Hochberg, M. Silicon Photonics Design: From Devices to Systems (Cambridge University Press, 2015)

ANSYS, Inc. Ansys Lumerical FDTD. at https://www.ansys.com/zh-cn/products/optics/fdtd https://www.ansys.com/zh-cn/products/optics/fdtd .

Notaros, J. et al. Near-field-focusing integrated optical phased arrays. J. Lightwave Technol. 36 , 5912–5920 (2018)..

Haus, H. A. Waves and Fields in Optoelectronics (Prentice-Hall, 1984).

Crawford-Eng, H. et al. Reduced-crosstalk grating-based antennas for wide-field-of-view integrated optical phased arrays. In Proceedings of the Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science 2025 FM3D. 7 (Optica Publishing Group, 2025).

Soldano, L. B. & Pennings, E. C. M. Optical multi-mode interference devices based on self-imaging: principles and applications. J. Lightwave Technol. 13 , 615–627 (1995)..

Hattori, A. et al. Integrated visible-light polarization rotators and splitters for atomic quantum systems. Opt. Lett. 49 , 1794–1797 (2024)..

Hattori, A. et al. Integrated-photonics-based architectures for polarization-gradient and EIT cooling of trapped ions. In Proceedings of the Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science 2022 FM4B. 3 (Optica Publishing Group, 2022).

Sage, J. M., Kerman, A. J. & Chiaverini, J. Loading of a surface-electrode ion trap from a remote, precooled source. Phys. Rev. A 86 , 013417 (2012)..

Bruzewicz, C. D. et al. Scalable loading of a two-dimensional trapped-ion array. Nat. Commun. 7 , 13005 (2016)..

Vasquez, A. R. et al. Control of an atomic quadrupole transition in a phase-stable standing wave. Phys. Rev. Lett. 130 , 133201 (2023)..

Hasse, F. et al. Phase-stable traveling waves stroboscopically matched for superresolved observation of trapped -ion dynamics. Phys. Rev. A 109 , 053105 (2024)..

Leibfried, D. et al. Quantum dynamics of single trapped ions. Rev. Mod. Phys. 75 , 281–324 (2003)..

Knollmann, F. W. et al. Integrated photonic structures for photon-mediated entanglement of trapped ions. Opt. Quantum 2 , 230–244 (2024)..

Knollmann, F. W. et al. Collecting fluorescence from a trapped ion using trap-integrated photonics. In Proceedings of the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics 2025 SS117_2 (Optica Publishing Group, 2025).

Views

Downloads

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

Publicity Resources

No data

Related Author

No data

Related Institution

No data

⁰