Piezoelectric device to control laser frequencies is a step forward for portable quantum devices

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of California, Santa Barbara, have published a paper demonstrating a chip-scale method to precisely control the laser frequencies necessary for quantum experiments and applications. The research appears in the September 16, 2026, issue of the journal Nature Communications and was led at UW-Madison by Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor Jennifer Choy and Physics PhD student Steven Carpenter and UCSB ECE Professor Daniel Blumenthal and PhD student Andrei Isichenko.

Many emerging quantum technologies, like optical atomic clocks, quantum computing and some sensors, rely on maintaining precise, stable laser frequencies, and the ability to quickly re-tune those frequencies. Current laser systems, however, are bulky and power hungry, meaning that they are ill-suited for emerging portable quantum applications.

In this paper, the team developed a new electrically controllable, agile, optical frequency source based on a photonic integrated resonator cavity and lead zirconate titanate actuator.  

During testing of the device, they were able to demonstrate precision control of a 780-nanometer laser that could almost instantly tune up or down to other frequencies. The team used the laser system to cool rubidium atoms to near absolute zero, without the need for any additional modulators and switches that draw power and drive device footprint.

Even more, the laser system consumes only around 10 nanowatts, an extremely small amount of electrical power, making it possible to fit the system on a chip. That is ideal for integration into compact, low-power laser systems for next generation quantum and atomic sensing applications.

Other UW-Madison authors include Mayand Dangi, Pritha Mukherjee and Xuting Yang.

Other authors include Nick Montifiore, Jiawei Wang, Nitesh Chauhan, Nitin Indukuri, Mark W. Harrington, and Chuan Zhong of the University of California, Santa Barbara; Iain M. Kierzewski and Ryan Q. Rudy of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, Maryland.