Stabilized laser components could shrink quantum computers from room- to chip-scale

Our lab at University of California Santa Barbara and collaborator Robert Niffenegger's lab at University of Massachusetts Amherst have demonstrated key laser and ion trap components necessary to help drastically shrink the size of quantum computers, an achievement aligned with the shrinking of integrated microprocessors in the 1970s, 80s and 90s that allowed computers to move from room-sized behemoths to today's ultrathin smartphones.

We have demonstrated key stabilized laser pieces necessary for an integrated quantum computing system-on-a-chip with the potential to shrink portions of quantum computing hardware from the size of a room to the chip-scale size of a deck of cards. This is a critical first step toward the scalability of quantum computing and an opportunity to make optical clocks (which are based on the same trapped-ion technology) portable.