One of the most important applications of quantum computers is to simulate fundamental laws of physics. This project explores how fermionic models can be implemented on superconducting hardware by applying the Jordan–Wigner transformation to arrays of fluxonium qubits. The idea is to encode fermionic occupation and parity into the computational Hilbert space of fluxoniums, and then design effective interactions that reproduce fermionic hopping and beamsplitting between modes. The student will start from simple fermionic chains, apply the Jordan–Wigner mapping, and translate the resulting Pauli-string Hamiltonians into practical fluxonium couplings and pulse sequences. Using numerical simulations (e.g., in Python or MATLAB), they will compare the dynamics of the fluxonium system to the ideal fermionic model and analyze interference patterns generated by beamsplitter-like (e.g., Hong-Ou-Mandel type) operations. This project offers an instructive path from abstract fermionic physics to concrete fluxonium architectures, contributing to the broader goal of using quantum hardware to model fundamental physics. 

Desired Skills: Intermediate (required) to advanced familiarity with quantum physics and computing concepts. Ability to read and summarize scientific papers. Advanced programming. 

Accurate and reliable qubit initialization is essential for implementing any quantum algorithm. Fluxonium circuits, which are known for their strong anharmonicity and rich energy landscape, offer several potential pathways for improved state preparation. This project focuses on experimentally measuring and benchmarking initialization fidelity in fluxonium systems using controlled flux and microwave sequences. The student will run preparation-and-measurement protocols, extract state populations from measurement data, and quantify how consistently the device reaches the intended quantum state under different operating conditions. By comparing the observed fidelities with simple theoretical expectations and noise models, the student will help establish a practical benchmark for state preparation in fluxonium circuits. This project combines hands-on experimentation with careful data analysis, contributing to a deeper understanding of initialization performance in next-generation superconducting qubits. 

Desired Skills: Basic programming. Familiarity with quantum physics and computing concepts. Ability to read and summarize scientific papers. 

This project centers on benchmarking the effectiveness of a newly proposed experimental technique based on MIST, a phenomenon in which the state of a qubit changes during the readout process, through the lens of quantum thermalization. This behavior enables a new way to evaluate how reliably a qubit measurement preserves quantum information, providing a modern perspective on QNDness and measurement fidelity. The student will implement the pulse sequences used in the original experiment, collect and analyze measurement data, and quantify how closely the qubit’s behavior matches the expected thermalization profile. By comparing fidelities, stability, and repeated-measurement outcomes, the student will develop a rigorous benchmark that validates the power and practicality of the demonstrated MIST-based technique. This project blends hands-on experimental techniques with careful data analysis, offering a meaningful and instructive contribution to next-generation superconducting-qubit characterization. 

Desired Skills: Basic programming. Familiarity with quantum physics and computing concepts. Ability to read and summarize scientific papers. 

New superconducting materials with higher critical temperatures (TC) and low microwave loss are required for the operation of superconducting qubits at temperatures great than 100 mK. At these elevated temperature, lower cost cryogenic equipment with great cooling power can be utilized, which will assist in the further scaling of superconducting quantum computers. Several promising candidate materials exist, including a number of binary intermetallic compounds with high TC. These materials can be fabricated through a variety of thin-film deposition techniques, but generally require additional processing steps to realize the maximum TC. This project focuses on investigating the optimization of processing parameters of the thin-film deposition and associated post-processing. The process will be benchmarked with low-temperature DC electron transport measurements as well as structural characterization of the thin films. Potential research would include exploration of processing parameters during magnetron sputtering and investigation of key variables in rapid thermal annealing processes. This project offers hands-on experience with thin-film deposition and processing as well as thin-film metrology. 

Desired skills: Junior or senior in physics, electrical engineering, or materials science and engineering. Prior experience with cryogenic equipment, cleanroom processes, and atomic force microscopy. 

The operation temperature of state-of-the-art superconducting qubits is restricted to 100 mK or lower due to the low TC of the Al used in Al/AlOx/Al Josephson junctions. To enable higher operation temperature and access to cryogenic equipment with lower cost and greater cooling power, which will assist in the further scaling of superconducting quantum computers, Josephson junctions comprised of higher TC materials with similar or lower microwave loss are required. All-epitaxial nitride-based Josephson junctions with transition-metals nitride superconductors are promising platform to realize these higher TC Josephson junctions. This project focusing on investigating the structural properties of molecular beam epitaxy-grown ZrTiN thin films to evaluate its use in epitaxial nitride Josephson junctions. Potential research will be to study the effect of differing growth conditions on the crystallinity, surface and interface roughness, and relaxation with X-ray diffraction. Data analysis using a python-based environment will be a key aspect of this project. This work will directly lead to the future integration of ZrTiN alloys into epitaxial Josephson junctions and offers hands-on experience with thin films metrology. 

Desired skills: Junior or senior in physics, electrical engineering, or materials science and engineering. Prior experience with X-ray diffraction and python. 

Semiconductor-superconductor Josephson junctions (JJs) offer tunability of the critical current with an applied gate voltage. This property enables their potential use in the next-generation of superconducting quantum devices. Ge quantum well JJs are particularly promising due to potential for monolithic integration with Si substrates. This project consists of the low-temperature characterization of superconductor-semiconductor quantum devices, including Ge quantum well JJs and quantum point contacts (QPCs). The intern will perform measurements in a dilution refrigerator, collect transport data at millikelvin temperatures, and analyze device behavior such as critical currents, conductance quantization, and gate-dependent modulation. This role provides hands-on experience with cryogenic measurement systems and data analysis in a quantum devices research environment. 

Desired Skills: Background in physics or a closely related field. Comfortable using Python for basic programming and data analysis. Ability to analyze and visualize experimental data using Python. Comfortable working in a hands-on experimental laboratory environment. Ability to clearly document results and communicate findings.  

All-epitaxial nitride-based Josephson junctions with transition-metals nitride superconductors are promising platform to realize higher TC Josephson junctions that can enable higher operational temperatures of superconducting qubits, thereby helping with the scaling of superconduct quantum computers by easing cooling requirements. Airbridges are required in order to make contact to the top electrode in the epitaxial material stack. This project will work towards the development of greyscale lithography for use in air bridge fabrication on the micron to sub-micron size. Greyscale lithography is a precise practice of varying the intensity of exposure to modify the depth and contour of exposed resist. The project can be pursued using photolithography with our Heidelberg tool or electron beam lithography (EBL) with our Elionix tools. The student will receive both firsthand experience with device fabrication and mask generation. The primary goal is to develop a lithographic process to produce varying contours and shapes for sub-micron sized metallic air bridges. The resulting work will help advance the fabrication of high Tc, nitride-based, epitaxial Josephson junctions and qubits. 

Desired Skills: Familiarity in and or all of the following areas: Lithography, wet chemical processing, device design (KLayout/CAD), SEM microscopy, and DC/AC device characterization. Basic Python programming.  

The Quantum Dot Spin qubit devices team (QDSpin) research effort at the LQC explores different quantum effects on semiconducting-based spin qubits leveraging (a) the access of state-of-the-art devices from the LQC qubits for computing foundry and (b) in-house fabricated structures based on molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) grown SiGe heterostructures.  We are currently seeking an undergraduate intern to assist with building a measurement testbed for the in-house fabricated quantum devices in SiGe heterostructures. Your primary responsibility will be to assemble a cryogenic dip probe and use it to perform initial testing of a variety of devices, including gated Hall bars, single hole transistors and for continuity of electrical contacts.  Your efforts will enable near-term demonstrations of single-hole, spin qubit measurements and superconducting qubit devices in silicon.  Your work will be performed in close collaboration with and guided by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers within our group.  In addition, this highly collaborative project provides you with opportunities for networking with researchers from pre-eminent national labs and external, academic research groups. 

Desired skills: Junior or senior in physics, electrical engineering, or materials science and engineering. Dedication and attention to detail. Prior soldering experience and familiarity with lock-in amplifiers or voltage/current source. 

The Quantum Dot Spin qubit devices team (QDSpin) research effort at the LQC explores different quantum effects on semiconducting-based spin qubits leveraging the access of state-of-the-art devices from the LQC qubits for computing foundry. This project will study the impacts of radiation on silicon spin qubits. This student will perform low temperature measurements on an Intel Tunnel Falls Si/SiGe quantum dot device, which is a platform for spin qubit quantum processors. Radiation impacts are ubiquitous in solid-state quantum computers, and the errors incurred by these impacts could be detrimental to future large-scale quantum algorithms. The student will explore these effects by measuring a quantum dot device in the presence of a Caesium-137 radiation source. 

Desired skills: Basic programming (e.g., Python, Mathematica, Matlab, etc.) and introductory course in undergraduate quantum physics preferred.  

For the field of superconducting quantum computing, interface Two-Level System (TLS) loss has been the leading loss channel that limits the qubit lifetime T1. Such a loss source can be created during the fabrication process of Josephson Junction (JJ), which is the key element of qubits that provides non-linear inductance without adding dissipation. In order to characterize the density of TLSs near JJ over a wide frequency range a tunable transmon architecture is required. For this summer intern project, the student will get trained on design, fabrication and measurement of JJs. Such a person will work with researchers in the group and grad students to help refine JJ fabrication process especially the e-beam lithography step, create a work-flow for mass-characterization of JJs at room temperature and design flux tunable transmons. 

Desired skills: Junior or senior in physics, electrical engineering, or materials science and engineering. Dedication and attention to detail. Understanding of e-beam lithography or lithography in general is a plus. 

For quantum computing performed at elevated temperatures, a sample box and printed-circuit board (PCB) that supports high frequency (above 20 GHz) microwave signals are essential. We are seeking an interested undergraduate student who can assist us in designing, simulating, fabricating and characterizing such a sample box and PCB. The intern will be working with a graduate student and a postdoc at LQC. The work will require that the intern to learn software like HFSS, AutoCAD, skills such as soldering and microwave measurement using a VNA. The intern will also be involved in resonator and qubit measurements at high frequencies and/or elevated temperatures (100 to 300 mK range). 

Desired skills: Junior or senior in physics, electrical engineering, or materials science and engineering. Dedication and attention to detail. Hands-on experience with PCB design or soldering is a plus. 

Recently, we established readout capabilities for a tip induced quantum dot using a milliKelvin scanning tunneling microscope on a passivated silicon sample. The current readout scheme relies on a tip resonator with a resonance frequency of 300 MHz. It is desirable to increase the frequency into a range of a few GHz to increase readout speed and improve protection from high frequency noise through the use of microwave circulators. For this summer intern project, the student will get trained on design, fabrication and measurement of RF resonators in a mock STM setup. Such a person will work with the researchers and graduate students in the group to help refine the resonator design and the measurement path. In addition, the intern will assist in cryogenic measurements of new resonator designs. 

Desired skills: Junior or senior in physics, electrical engineering, or materials science and engineering. Dedication and attention to detail. Experience with RF measurements or circuit design is a plus. 

Local band-bending in a metal-insulator-semiconductor junction leads to a bias voltage dependent potential well. One characteristic of the well formation is a voltage dependent capacitance C(V). Using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), C(V) curves were obtained as a function of tip shape and possible contamination of the metallic tip by silicon. To help understand the well shape induced by a given tip electrostatic modeling of the C(V) characteristics would be helpful. We are seeking an interested undergrad student who can assist us in simulating such C(V) curves using the free finite element solver DevSim. The intern will work with an LQC research scientist. The work will require that the intern to learn to apply the software to 1D, 2D and ultimately 3D models and compare the results to the different C(V) curves obtained by low temperature STM measurements. 

Desired skills: Junior or senior in physics, electrical engineering, or materials science and engineering. Dedication and attention to detail. Hands-on experience with python programming is a plus. 

The superconducting qubit research teams at LPS are working on the use of an innovative circuit design called a SNAIL to couple a multi-qubit device. The SNAIL couplers are an advanced design allowing for true on-off coupling and suppression of unwanted interactions in superconducting qubits, and its use may allow for better operation fidelities than current solutions. We are seeking an undergraduate intern to assist in the design of this device. The primary responsibility would be to numerically simulate this superconducting circuit and explore the various implementation options and operating conditions, informing the team’s efforts to design a physical chip. The student would be primarily using Python and in particular the QuTiP package, along with others, interacting with both the theoretical leads as well as experimentalists working on the project. 

Desired Skills: Familiarity with Python. Knowledge of quantum mechanics is a plus. 

Hole spins in semiconductor quantum dots have shown promise qubit candidates due to their intrinsic spin-orbit coupling allowing for electrical control of the spin states.  Recent development of hole-spin qubits has trended toward industry-compatible Si and Ge structures for confinement in quantum dots, with lithographically patterned metal/metal-oxide gates for control electronics.  While designs for electron-spin qubits in such systems are better understood, the optimal design for hole-spin qubit has yet to emerge.  This project consists of computational work intended to explore the range of device designs which will fully leverage the unique physics of hole spins. 

The candidate is intended to employ MaSQE for electrostatic simulations of holes in gated Ge/SiGe heterostructures, working closely with experiments and fabrication at the LQC to inform the optimal gate layout for a chosen qubit architecture.  The resulting work will tackle problems from control and scalability, to the design criteria required for the realization of qubit architectures fully leveraging hole-spin physics. 

Desired skills: Comfortable working with Unix/Linx terminal environment, Bash/Zsh etc. Proficiency with programing in languages such as Python, Julia, or similar. 

Bonus points if: Experience with Poisson equation electrostatics, Schrödinger equations, and PDE solvers; Experience with semiconductor heterostructures and gated controlled quantum dots.