The Jayich Lab in the UC Santa Barbara Physics Department develops new quantum technologies and addresses fundamental questions in physics by controlling single quantum states of trapped ions. An ion trap is a subtly powerful tool: the trap only cares about a particle’s charge and mass, leaving the trap insensitive to the trapped atom or molecule’s internal structure. Therefore a wide array of atoms and molecules with complex but desirable structure may be easily trapped and with modern ion techniques prepared in a single quantum state, manipulated and read out with lasers and co-trapped “control” ions.