Ion Trapping – Integrating technology and beyond

Melissa Revelle is a Principal Member of Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories and an expert in atomic, molecular, and optical physics, specializing in trapped-ion quantum computing. Her research focuses on the design, development, and integration of microfabricated ion traps and related hardware for scalable quantum information systems. She earned her bachelor’s degree in physics and astronomy from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. from Rice University, where her doctoral work examined quasi-one-dimensional ultracold Fermi gases. At Sandia, she has led the development of multiple state-of-the-art ion trap platforms, operated and advanced QSCOUT (a DOE quantum computer operated at Sandia National Laboratories), and currently leads efforts in integrated photonics and modular trap architectures for next-generation quantum computing. Her work spans fundamental AMO physics through applied quantum hardware development, with an emphasis on enabling practical trapped-ion quantum technologies.