Faculty Profiles
"The University has pillars of excellence in a wide range of departments
that can feed into a comprehensive program in Quantum."
-University Science Strategy Committee (Report, 2018).
Following are profiles of six faculty members active in quantum research at Yale. For a full list of research topics with associated faculty, see:
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• Atomic and molecular physics/chemistry • Nuclear magnetic resonance and quantum control |
• Quantum-enabled searches for physics beyond the standard model |
Michel Devoret, Ph.D.
Frederick W. Beinecke Professor of Applied Physics
Principal Investigator of the quantronics lab (Qulab)
Michel Devoret’s research focuses on experimental solid state physics with emphasis on “quantronics" and "circuit quantum electrodynamics" i.e., mesoscopic electronic effects in which collective degrees of freedom like currents and voltages in circuits behave quantum mechanically. The experiments done in Qulab aim at the basic understanding of quantum non-equilibrium physics of superconducting circuits for applications to information processing, quantum computation, and quantum sensing.
A Josephson parametric amplifier which reaches the quantum limit of amplification for the readout of a superconducting quantum bit.
Photo credit: Michel Devoret
He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the French Academy of Sciences. He has been awarded the Ampere Prize, the Bell Prize, the London Memorial award and the Olli Lounaasma Prize. He holds over twenty patents.
Highlight on Quantum Computing
“Quantum computers utilize certain unique properties of subatomic particles in conjunction with the theories of computer science to process and store information. This merging of quantum mechanics and computer science has been extensively explored during the last three decades, and has led to the development of techniques for a class of computational problems, for example, deciphering codes, factoring large numbers, searching an unsorted collection etc. that can be solved much more efficiently using a quantum computer.
Such advances in information processing capability can be attributed to the fact that the data bits in a quantum computer, unlike their counterparts in classical computers can simultaneously exist in more than one state at a time and can be manipulated simultaneously. Information in conventional digital representation uses a sequence of bits. Each bit is basically the charge of an electron. If the electron is charged, the bit is assumed to carry a value 1; alternatively the bit carries a value 0 if the electron is not charged. Thus a bit also known as a classical bit can be in state 0 or state 1, and measuring a bit at any time results in one of two possible outcomes." (Lala, 2019).
Victor Batista, Ph.D.
John Randolph Huffman Professor of Chemistry
Victor Batista’s group’s research is concerned with the development of rigorous and practical methods for simulations of quantum processes in complex systems as well as with applications studies of photochemical processes in proteins, semiconductor materials, and systems of environmental interest.
Computational methods from the Batista group have made significant progress toward the establishment of rigorous quantum mechanical approaches for describing equilibrium and dynamical properties of complex quantum systems. Current studies are focused on quantum mechanical processes involved in light harvesting mechanisms for solar energy conversion in semiconductor materials (e.g., functionalized TiO2) and biological molecules (e.g., rhodopsin). These studies aim to unravel the nature of molecular mechanisms responsible for the efficient detection and utilization of photon energy, advance our understanding of the primary photochemical event in the vertebrate vision process, and to examine the potential application of laser coherences to control reaction dynamics.
He serves as ACS Associate Editor for Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, has published more than 320 research papers and there are > 15,148 published papers citing his work.
Highlight on Semiconductor Materials
“Various elements, compounds, and mixtures can function as semiconductors. Two common semiconductor materials are the element silicon and a compound of gallium and arsenic known as gallium arsenide” … “(GaAs). In the early years of semiconductor technology germanium formed the basis for many semiconductors” … “Other substances that work as semiconductors include selemium, cadmium compounds, indium compounds, and the oxides of certain metals.” (Gibilisco and Monk, 2016).
Yongshan Ding, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Yongshan Ding’s research interests include computer architecture and algorithms in the context of quantum computing and artificial intelligence; theory and application of quantum error correction; optimizations at the quantum hardware/software interface. In 2020, he was awarded both the Siebel Scholarship and the William Rainey Harper Dissertation Fellowship. He has coauthored a textbook, Quantum Computer Systems: Research for Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum Computers (Morgan & Claypool Publishers, 2020).
Diagram showing the relationship with existing qubit technologies (superconducting and trapped ion) in relation to algorithmic or theoretical expectations. As technology develops, researchers hope to bridge the boundaries between the two areas.
Photo credit: Yongshan Ding
He has also published in top-tier computer science conferences such as: International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA), International Symposium on Microarchitecture (MICRO), and International Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA).
Highlight on Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing
“One of the fertile areas for quantum computing is AI (Artificial Intelligence), which relies on processing huge amounts of complex datasets. There is also a need to evolve algorithms to allow for better learning, reasoning and understanding.” (Taulli, 2020).
Reina Maruyama, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics and of Astronomy
Reina Maruyama is an experimental particle/atomic/nuclear physicist. She is exploring new physics in nuclear and particle astrophysics, in dark matter and neutrinos. Her group is carrying out experiments in direct detection of dark matter with terrestrial-based detectors for both axions and weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) and searches for neutrinoless double beta decay. The current experiments include COSINE-100 located at the Yangyang Underground Laboratory in South Korea, DM-Ice, and IceCube located at the South Pole, CUORE, located at Gran Sasso, Italy, and HAYSTAC at Yale.
Reina Maruyama and Digital Optical Deployment for IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole in 2011.
Photo credit: Jim Haugen
She is an author of 200+ publications and has presented her work in numerous conferences and workshops. She has been quoted in popular science press such as APS News, Nature News, Science News, and Symmetry Magazine for her work on dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay. Among the awards she has received are the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in Physics, Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program Award, Yale Public Voices Fellowship, and Woman Physicist of the Month from the American Physical Society’s Committee on the Status of Women in Physics. Additionally, Reina Maruyama serves in leadership for Yale University’s Women Faculty Forum.
Highlight on Dark Matter and the Quantum
“Almost a century after its existence was first postulated, dark matter, which makes up 27% of the Universe’s energy density, remains one of the most profound mysteries in fundamental physics. It determines cosmic structure formation and dominates the dynamics of galaxies, and there is overwhelming evidence that it cannot be composed of any particles described by the standard model of particle physics. Hypothetical particles called axions…have emerged as leading dark matter candidates…If they exist, axions would probably be many orders of magnitude lighter than all massive standard model particles. In fact, they are sufficiently low-energy to behave like a weakly coupled oscillating field permeating all space.”
“The manipulation of quantum states of light holds the potential to enhance searches for fundamental physics… In dark matter axion searches, quantum uncertainty manifests as a fundamental noise source…Breaking through the quantum limit invites an era of fundamental physics searches in which noise reduction techniques yield unbounded benefit” (Backes, et. al., 2021).
Hong Tang, Ph.D.
Llewellyn West Jones, Jr. Professor of Electrical Engineering,
of Applied Physics, and of Physics
Hong Tang’s research interests include: nonlinear and quantum optics, nano-electromechanical systems, superconducting detector and circuits, quantum transducers development. He is an elected member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. He has published articles in New Journal of Physics, Optics Letters, and Nature Nanotechnology with each being cited more than 130 times.
Highlight on Quantum Optics
“Optical phenomena concerning the interaction between light and matter, such as characteristic emission, the photoelectric effect, etc., is in the realm of quantum optics. The concept of the photon, proposed by Einstein in 1905, is fundamental to quantum optics, and the interaction between light and matter can be considered as interactions between photons and atoms of matter. For example, the invention of the laser is the most famous application of quantum optics. This new type of optical source provided an important experimental tool for the development of modern optics. Furthermore, commonly used photoelectric detectors, such as charge-coupled devices (CCDs), photodiodes, and photomultiplier tubes … are all successful applications of quantum optics.” (Zhang, et. al., 2017).
David C. Moore, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Physics
David Moore’s research focuses on experimental nuclear and particle physics, including tests of the fundamental nature of neutrinos, dark matter, and gravity at microscopic distances. His research group is developing new technologies to search for physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. These experiments use precision techniques to search for tiny effects in the lab, including new fundamental phenomena (e.g., those related to neutrinos, dark matter, or the microscopic nature of gravity) that may occur at much higher energy or much weaker couplings than could be directly detected at particle accelerators.
"Photograph of an optically trapped microsphere used as a sensitive detector in a laboratory search for dark matter at Wright Laboratory at Yale. The green dot in the center of the image is a 10 μm (micron) diameter glass sphere that is levitated in the center of a vacuum chamber using a laser. Motion of the sphere is studied to search for recoils that may arise from passing dark matter particles scattering off of it." (Moore, 2021)
Photo credit: David C. Moore
His group is also currently involved in searching for neutrinoless double beta decay with the nEXO experiment. They are developing force sensors and accelerometers capable of searching for new forces (as small as 10-21 N) using optically trapped, nanogram scale masses. These optomechanical sensors have applications to searches for dark matter, tests of Newton’s and Coulomb’s laws at microscopic distances, and are approaching quantum measurement regimes for nanogram mass mechanical objects. In 2017, he received the Faculty Early Career Award Development Program (CAREER) Award and in 2018, the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in Physics.
Highlight on Dark Matter
“Galactic rotation requires that each galaxy be composed of around six times more matter than is currently observed, and the missing mass is known as dark matter, since it emits no light. Dark matter, then, is that matter in the universe that we do not detect directly through electromagnetic interactions but whose existence is inferred through its gravitational effect.” (Purdy, 2018)
Acknowledgments | Sources