Work

I am currently a Senior Error Correction Theorist at Atom computing and the Technical Lead of the QEC team. Despite my title, I like to think of myself and my team members as QEC engineers; it’s our job to focus on practical aspects of implementing quantum error correction. We work closely with quantum engineers, AMO theorists, quantum applications engineers, and FPGA engineers.

I spend most of my time thinking about quantum error correction, fault-tolerance, and architectures of quantum computers based on neutral atoms. I also enjoy thinking about compilation of quantum gates and algorithms, quantum applications, resource estimation, and (abstracted) neutral atom physics. In all of my work, I enjoy switching back and forth between pencil-and-paper math and writing simulations.

I started at Atom Computing as a member of the Applications team in 2021. In addition to some work on error correction, I also worked on developing early QCVV software, simulation of NISQ algorithms, and compiling/optimizing for Atom’s native gateset. Early projects on error correction explored dealing with atom loss and simulation of logical gates. I was also involved with Atom’s efforts on the DARPA US2QC program.

Currently, I am working on developing Atom Computing’s QEC software stack, including a Clifford simulator that incorporates leakage and loss, our decoding toolset, error budgeting, code developement utilities, and tools to map various QEC codes to our hardware. I also work on evaluation of medium- and long-term architectural candidates and fault-tolerant resource estimation.

Academic

In grad school (UW-Madison Physics, Advisor: Robert Joynt) I worked on several projects under the umbrella of quantum computation and information. Research topics included classical simulation of quantum noise, the geometry of entangled states, and error correction using neutral atoms without measurement.

Following grad school I did a postdoc (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Advisor: Anthony Leggett) where I worked closer to condensed matter physics. I wrote an exact self-consistent solver for $T_c$ in the BEC/BCS crossover regime, applicable to small “granules” of material. Ensembles of many such granules of varying size demonstrate higher $T_c$ than macroscopic samples of the same material.

Other

For a few years between academia and industry, I taught physics at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. The school has some remarkable students, and I particularly enjoyed teaching a quantum mechanics course that I developed. We followed A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics by Townsend. I am a firm advocate of using two-state systems and linear algebra as primary entry points into quantum mechanics. The course is appropriate for students that have completed single-variable calculus and a rigorous calculus-based physics course, but experience with multivariable calc, linear algebra, and prior experience with advanced physics courses are recommended. My course notes and problem sets are available on request.