- Email: krislam@uwaterloo.ca
- Office: QNC 4109
- Office Phone: 519-888-4567 ext. 31995
- Website: https://research.iqc.uwaterloo.ca/qiti/
- Admin Support: Michele Roche
K. Rajibul Islam joined the Institute for Quantum Computing in November 2016 as Assistant Professor with the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Faculty of Science, and is the Principal Investigator of the Laboratory for Quantum Information with Trapped Ions.
Islam completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s physics degrees in India, focusing on the theory of statistical physics, quantum magnetism and the interaction of spins in frustrated systems. Motivated by the possibility of studying physical systems in a lab, Islam shifted to experimental research with laser-cooled trapped ions and moved to the University of Maryland, College Park to earn his PhD under the supervision of Christopher Monroe. His thesis Quantum Simulation of Interacting Spin Models with Trapped Ions was recognized by the University of Maryland’s Distinguished Dissertation Award in 2013.
In his first three years as a postdoctoral fellow with Harvard University at the Center for Ultracold Atoms (CUA), Islam studied entanglement in ultra-cold neutral bosonic atoms in optical potentials with Markus Greiner’s group. Returning his research focus to ions, this time in optical potentials created in a high quality optical resonator, Islam joined MIT as a postdoctoral researcher in Vladan Vuletic’s group at CUA.
At IQC, Islam’s experimental research will address fundamental physics questions, concentrating on encoding and manipulating quantum information in a quantum many-body system using trapped ions.
Research expertise
- Experimental quantum many-body physics, especially quantum simulation of frustrated spin models with trapped ions
- Quantum computation with trapped ions
- Use of holography and high resolution microscopy to manipulate many-body systems
Selected publications
- Reprogrammable and high-precision holographic optical addressing of trapped ions for scalable quantum control
Chung-You Shih, Sainath Motlakunta, Nikhil Kotibhaskar, Manas Sajjan, Roland Hablützel & Rajibul Islam.
npj Quantum Information 7, 57 (2021) - Programmable quantum simulations of spin systems with trapped ions
C. Monroe, W. C. Campbell, L.-M. Duan, Z.-X. Gong, A. V. Gorshkov, P. W. Hess, R. Islam, K. Kim, N. M. Linke, G. Pagano, P. Richerme, C. Senko, and N. Y. Yao
Rev. Mod. Phys. 93, 025001 (2021) - Machine learning design of a trapped-ion quantum spin simulator
Yi hong Teah, Marina Drygala, Roger G. Melko, Rajibul Islam.
Quantum Sci. Technol. 5, 024001, (2020) - Dynamical Hamiltonian engineering of 2D rectangular lattices in a one-dimensional ion chain
Fereshteh Rajabi, Sainath Motlakunta, Chung-You Shih, Nikhil Kotibhaskar, Qudsia Quraishi, Ashok Ajoy, Rajibul Islam.
npj Quantum Information 5, 32, (2019) - Measuring entanglement entropy in a quantum many-body system
Rajibul Islam, Ruichao Ma, Philipp M. Preiss, M. Eric Tai, Alexander Lukin, Matthew Rispoli, and Markus Greiner.
Nature 528, 77 (2015) - Strongly Correlated Quantum Walks in Optical Lattices
Philipp M. Preiss, Ruichao Ma, M. Eric Tai, Alexander Lukin, Matthew Rispoli, Philip Zupancic, Yoav Lahini, Rajibul Islam, and Markus Greiner
Science 347, 6225 (2015), arXiv:1409.3100 - Emergence and Frustration of Magnetic Order with Variable-Range Interactions in a Trapped Ion Quantum Simulator
R. Islam, C. Senko, W. C. Campbell, S. Korenblit, J. Smith, A. Lee, E. E. Edwards, C.-C. J. Wang, J. K. Freericks, and C. Monroe
Science 340, 583 (2013), arXiv1210.0142 - Onset of a Quantum Phase Transition with a Trapped Ion Quantum Simulator
R. Islam, E. E. Edwards, K. Kim, S. Korenblit, C. Noh, H. Carmichael, G.-D.Lin, L.-M. Duan, C.-C. Wang, J. K. Freericks and C. Monroe
Nature Communications 2:377 (2011) arXiv:1103.2400 - Quantum simulation of frustrated Ising spins with trapped ions
K. Kim, M.-S. Chang, S. Korenblit, R. Islam, E. E. Edwards, J. K. Freericks, G.-D. Lin, L.-M. Duan, and C. Monroe
Nature 465, 590 (2010) - Entanglement and Tunable Spin-Spin Couplings Between Trapped Ions Using Multiple Transverse Modes
K. Kim, M.-S. Chang, R. Islam, S. Korenblit, L.-M. Duan, and C. Monroe
Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 120502 (2009)
Degrees
- PhD, Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, USA
- MSc, Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
- BSc, Physics, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
Awards & Honours
- Distinguished Dissertation Award, University of Maryland, 2013
- Best paper award, DARPA Optical Lattice Emulator project, 2011
- Early Researcher Award, Government of Ontario (2019)
- Honourable mention – Ralph D. Myers 2007/2008 Teaching Assistant Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of Maryland, 2007
Major positions
| Title | Location | When |
|---|---|---|
| Associate Professor | Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Waterloo | 2023-Present |
| Assistant Professor | Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Waterloo | 2016- 2023 |
| Associate of the Department of Physics | Harvard University | 2016-2017 |
| Postdoctoral Researcher | Center for Ultracold Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 2015-2016 |
| Research Associate in Physics | Center for Ultracold Atoms, Harvard University | 2015-2016 |
| Postdoctoral Fellow | Center for Ultracold Atoms, Harvard University | 2012-2015 |