Abstract
Photonic integrated stable, ultra-low-noise lasers are essential for scalable and portable quantum information systems. Trapped ions are a leading modality for quantum computing and optical clocks, with room-temperature operation enabling portable applications. Current systems rely on free-space lasers and stabilization cavities, frequency conversion, and cryogenic infrastructure, limiting size, weight, and power. We demonstrate a chip-scale coil-stabilized 674 nm Brillouin laser driving qubit state preparation and measurement and the optical clock transition in a room-temperature surface electrode trapped 88Sr+ ion without a bulk-optic reference cavity. The CMOS compatible silicon nitride integrated 3-meter coil and Brillouin laser achieve 8.8×10-13 stability at 20 ms, sufficient to interrogate the 0.4 Hz quadrupole optical clock transition. The ion-disciplined laser achieves 5.3 \(\times {10}^{-13}/\sqrt{\tau }\) stability, spectroscopy with 1.5 kHz linewidths, and 99.6% qubit state preparation and measurement fidelity. These results light the way towards integration of stabilized lasers with trapped-ion chips for portable and robust quantum technologies.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by funding from Army Research Office (ARO) under award number W911NF2310179 and DARPA MTO award number FA9453-19-C-0030. The views, opinions and/or findings expressed are those of the author(s) and should not be interpreted as representing the official views or policies of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. The authors gratefully acknowledge help from Karl D. Nelson of Honeywell for chip fabrication. We also thank MOGLabs for their assistance supplying lasers and amplifiers.
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R.J.N. and D.J.B. conceived of the work. N.C., A.I., K.L. and R.J.N. designed, packaged, characterized, and analyzed the photonics; J.W. fabricated the SBS laser resonator; R.J.N. directed all ion experiments and analyzed the ion data; M.S. characterized the coil stabilized Brillouin laser; C.C. fabricated the ion trap and setup the ion trap system; C.C., N.H., Z.W., and R.J.N. performed the ion experiments. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the writing of the paper. R.J.N. and D.J.B. supervised the research.
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D.J.B.’s work has been funded in the past by Infleqtion and he has consulted for Infleqtion and owns stock. All other authors declare no competing interests.
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Chauhan, N., Caron, C., Isichenko, A. et al. Chip scale coil stabilized Brillouin laser driving a room temperature trapped ion qubit. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69948-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69948-2
