The disclosure describes various aspects of acousto-optic modulator (AOM) configurations for quantum processing. A method is described including generating, by a first AOM from a laser beam, first and second diffracted laser beams at different angles based on first and second radio frequency (RF) tones. An optical component focuses the diffracted laser beams onto a second AOM, which generates third and fourth diffracted laser beams based on the first RF tone and a third RF tone and the second RF tone and a fourth RF tone respectively, wherein the third and fourth diffracted laser beams are substantially parallel when incident on a respective ion in a chain of ions in a trap. Quantum information in the ion is controlled to perform quantum processing based on the third and fourth diffracted laser beams. Another method is described including generating, by an AOM, a small polarization rotation of an undiffracted laser beam.