Researchers Build Integrated Waveguide for Ion Traps

Until now, delivering light to trapped ions required complex free-space optics that become impractical as the number of qubits increases. Now, the researchers have developed an ion-trap platform on borosilicate glass with an integrated femtosecond-laser-written waveguide for on-chip light delivery. This system achieves low-loss curved waveguides down to a radius of curvature of 6mm, and successfully demonstrated trapping, ion shuttling, and coherent operations using 729nm light guided through the integrated waveguide. Researchers have engineered a new ion trap using glass channels…