We have developed a new technique to heat a temperature-controlled stage for SQUID measurements without coupling excess noise to the SQUID. We send infrared laser light from a diode laser into a cryostat through an optical fiber, whose cleaved end is held close to a blackened spot on the stage. The laser current is controlled by a commercial PID temperature controller, which monitors the stage temperature with a diode sensor. Temperature control with the laser heating system is almost as good as that with a resistive heater, but it is much easier to achieve excellent SQUID noise performance because the rapidly oscillating magnetic field of infrared light does not couple to SQUIDs' pickup loops, and the optical fiber does not carry RF noise to the SQUID.