AFRL/RITQ - Superconducting and Hybrid Quantum Systems

SUPERCONDUCTING QUBIT AND QUANTUM INTERFACE PLATFORMS FOR QUANTUM NETWORKING

The superconducting and hybrid quantum systems team at AFRL’s Information Directorate (RI) in Rome, New York seeks to develop novel superconducting architectures and cross-modality quantum interface hardware as building blocks for use in quantum networks.

The team’s efforts focus on three main thrusts: (i) the development of architectures for generating entanglement between multi-qubit superconducting modules (i.e. encoding/decoding multi-partite quantum information on a quantum bus). (ii) the investigation of hybrid superconducting and photonic platforms for transduction of quantum information between microwave and optical domains at cryogenic temperatures; (iii) and development of quantum interface hardware for bridging trapped ion and superconducting qubit modalities.

quantum collage image of equipment


Illustration of the building blocks of on potential heterogeneous quantum network node that utilizes three of the leading qubit modalities (superconducting qubits, quantum photonics, and trapped-ion systems)

images of transducer chips

The above left and middle images show a piezo-optomechanical transducer chip obtained from a collaboration with Sunil Bhave's group at Purdue University. The chip has electrical wirebonds and has optical fiber v-groove arrays bonded to it and is mounted in a sample package for placement inside a dilution refrigerator. The above right Image shows a piezo-optomechanical transducer chip (same as above), with single optical fibers bonded to it, and mounted within the team's Bluefors LD dilution refrigerator. (U.S. Air Force photos)

The superconducting team is working in conjunction with AFRL’s trapped ion and integrated photonics teams to pursue development of such architectures and interconnects.

We have labs on AFRL's RI campus and in the Innovare Advancement Center.

CLICK HERE to visit our other quantum labs.
GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL
image of Dr. LaHayeDr. Matthew D. LaHaye, AFRL, Senior Research Physicist
Education: BS Physics & Philosophy (University at Albany, 1999), PhD Condensed Matter Physics (University of Maryland, College Park, 2005), Center for Physics of Information Postdoctoral Fellow (California Institute of Technology, 2005-2009)


image of campbellDr. Daniel L. Campbell, AFRL, Research Physicist
Education: BA Physics (Hamilton College, 2008), PhD Physics (University of Maryland, 2015), Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Fellow (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015-2018)



image of sheridanDr. Erin Sheridan, AFRL, Research Physicist
Education: BS Physics & Mathematics (Boston College, 2016), PhD Physics (University of Pittsburgh, 2021)




image of senatoreDr. Michael Senatore, AFRL, Research Physicist
Education: BA Physics & Philosophy (Colgate University, 2014), Master of Science – Physics (Syracuse University, 2018), PhD Physics (Syracuse University, 2022)



image of schwabDr. Samuel Schwab, AFRL, Research Physicist
Education: BS Physics & Philosophy (Baldwin Wallace University, 2015), PhD Physics (Case Western University, 2022)
 
CONTRACTORS
image of asplingDr. Eric Aspling, Contractor – Griffiss Institute, AFRL, Post Doctoral Fellow
Education: BS Mathematical Physics (Binghamton University, 2018), PhD Physics (Binghamton University, 2024)



image of sicaDerrick Sica, Contractor – Murray Associates of Utica, Quantum Engineer
Education: BS Mechanical Engineering (SUNY Polytechnic Institute, 2021)




image of mccoyDr. Stephen McCoy, Contractor – Booz Allen Hamilton, Advanced Quantum Scientist
Education: BS & Minor, Nanoscale Engineering, Mathematics (SUNY Polytechnic Institute, 2015), MS & PhD Material Science (University of California, Riverside, 2020)



image of maddenDr. Alexander Madden, Contractor – Booz Allen Hamilton, Advanced Quantum Scientist
Education: BS Physics (RIT, 2016), PhD Physics (Michigan State University, 2022)




image of andrewsDr. Melinda Andrews, Contractor – Booz Allen Hamilton, Lead Scientist
Education: BS Mathematics / BA Physics (Bucknell University, 2006), PhD Physics (University of Pennsylvania, 2014)



image of nadeauChristopher Nadeau, Contractor – Booz Allen Hamilton, Advanced Quantum Scientist
Education: BS Physics & Applied Mathematics (University of Rhode island, 2021), MS Applied Mathematics (University of Rhode Island, 2022)




PUBLICATIONS (Click for list of publications)

EMAIL US
ri.quantumcircuits.gov@afrl.af.mil 

PATENTS
Erin Sheridan: Co-inventor, US Patent Application Serial No. 18/453442, "Apparatus and method for holding optical fiber and fiber array via vacuum for fiber alignment and attaching" filed August 2023

PRESS
https://www.afrl.af.mil/News/Article/2466567/afrl-measures-first-superconducting-quantum-bits-qubit-a-first-ever-superconduc/

THESES/DISSERTATIONS
Senatore, Michael, "High Fidelity Universal Gates Performed on a Continuously-Decoupled Coherence Enhanced Transmon Qubit" (2022). Dissertations - ALL. 1602. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/1602

Daniel Campbell, "Engineered Potentials in Ultracold Bose-Einstein Condensates," Ph.D. Thesis, University of Maryland (2015).

Matthew LaHaye, "The Radio-Frequency Single-Electron Transistor Displacement Detector," Ph.D. Thesis, University of Maryland (2005).

Erin Sheridan, “Nanoscale nonlinear optics with LaAlO3/SrTiO3 junctions” December 2021 https://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/41832/