Previous Research Projects

 Seed Funding Projects

Quantum Science Videos for the general audience

PI: Dirk Bouwmeester

This project is producing 5-10 minute videos aimed at high school students and the general public, which present quantum mechanics in a playful and engaging way. Topics include the history of the theory of light, black body radiation, quantum teleportation, and the measurement problem.

Developing a High Fidelity Hyperfine Qubit

PI: Andrew Jayich

This seed project aims at the first laser cooling and trapping of the radium 225 ion, and subsequent rapid development to make it a useful quantum system. The radium ion is an appealing qubit candidate as it is highly insensitive to magnetic field noise, and is addressed with optical wavelengths far from the UV which are all available as direct diode lasers.

Many-Body Theory for Dielectric Couplings in Quantum Defects

PI: Vojtech Vlcek

This theoretical seed project proposes to develop new stochastic many-body methodologies and deploy them to investigate vacancies in heterostructures of hexagonal boron nitride and NV-centers in diamond.

Quantum Dynamics & Curved Spacetime

PI: David Weld

The goals of this seed project are to demonstrate the emergence of black-hole and white-hole event horizons in strongly-driven cavities containing atoms endowed with a relativistic dispersion relation, and to measure the dependence of fixpoint dynamics on drive parameters.

Search for Hidden Order and Quantum Disorder in Rare Earth Decorated Triangular Lattices

PI: Stephen Wilson

The focus of this seed proposal is to examine rare earth decorated triangular lattice compounds, namely those that host a triangular lattice of Ce3+ ions inside of edge-sharing oxygen octahedra. Numerous recent reports have pointed toward the formation of intrinsic quantum disordered or quantum spin liquid states in these compounds.

 Graduate Student Fellowship Projects

Massive Quantum Superpositions with Optomechanical Systems

Graduate Fellow: Ian Hedgepeth
PI: Dirk Bouwmeester

The goal of this proposal is to quantum entangle two low-frequency mechanical modes via optomechanical interactions, and investigate the loss of quantum decoherence over a long (millisecond) time span.

Interplay between Superconductivity and Polar Order in Strontium Titanate

Graduate Fellow: Lily Hallett
PI: John Harter, Materials Department

For this project, we propose to theoretically model the polar phase transition in samarium-doped strontium titanate. By using first-principles calculations to generate a thermodynamic model of the polar phase transition, we will gain insights into the possible role of polar fluctuations in the enhancement of unconventional superconductivity in this unusual material system.

Probing the Onset of Ferromagnetism in Nickel Sulfide Nanoclusters

Graduate Fellow: Alexander J. Touchton
PI: Trevor Hayton

This project aims to synthesize and isolate a series of large nickel sulfide nanoclusters. The magnetic properties will then be probed by variable temperature SQUID magnetometry. This study will quantify the cluster spin-state as well as probe for low temperature magnetic ordering, allowing us to correlate cluster nuclearity with magnetic properties.

Quantum Acoustics in Diamond with SiV Centers

Graduate Fellow: Viraj Dharod
PI: Ania Bleszysnki Jayich

This project aims to experimentally demonstrate the first diamond optomechanical crystals with embedded silicon vacancy centers, to reach high cooperativity and the quantum coupling regime.