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We stabilize a chosen radio frequency beat note between two optical fields derived from the same mode-locked laser pulse train in order to coherently manipulate quantum information. This scheme does not require access or active stabilization of the laser repetition rate. We implement and characterize this external lock, in the context of two-photon stimulated Raman transitions between the hyperfine ground states of trapped 171Yb(+) quantum bits.

We report entanglement of a single atom's hyperfine spin state with its motional state in a time scale of less than 3 ns. We engineer a short train of intense laser pulses to impart a spin-dependent momentum transfer of ± 2 ħk. Using pairs of momentum kicks, we create an atomic interferometer and demonstrate collapse and revival of spin coherence as the motional wave packet is split and recombined. The revival after a pair of kicks occurs only when the second kick is delayed by an integer multiple of the harmonic trap period, a signature of entanglement and disentanglement of the spin with the motion. Such quantum control opens a new regime of ultrafast entanglement in atomic qubits.