Ion Storage Group Members

John Bollinger, group leader

• Staff profile page
• Quantum Simulation and Sensing with Trapped Ions

John Bollinger was a principal on early NIST studies employing laser-cooled ions for microwave frequency standards and then carried out studies on the collective and cold plasma behavior of laser-cooled ion crystals in Penning traps, including precise characterization of the plasma modes, crystal equilibria, and structural phase transitions. His recent work has focused on the use of trapped ion crystals of several hundred ions confined in Penning ion traps for quantum information studies, including quantum simulation and quantum metrology.

Allison Carter

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• Quantum Simulation and Sensing with Trapped Ions

Allison Carter’s work focuses on using large crystals of ions in a Penning trap to perform quantum simulations and sensing. She is interested in the use of trapped ions as a quantum information platform and in developing techniques for improving quantum information processing with trapped ions.

James Chin-Wen Chou

• Staff profile page
• Precision Spectroscopy and Quantum Control of Trapped Molecular Ions
• Trapped Ion Optical Clocks

James Chou has worked in the fields of quantum information and precision measurements including atomic ensemble-based quantum communication, neutral atom quantum registers, and Al+ ion optical clocks. He is currently working on advancing both fronts for molecular ions, using the tools developed in quantum information for precision measurements and vice versa.

David Hume

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• Trapped Ion Optical Clocks

David Hume's work aims at developing and improving optical clocks using quantum metrology techniques. Notably, quantum-logic spectroscopy allows for precision measurement of a broad array trapped-ion species that cannot be directly laser cooled or detected.

Dietrich Leibfried

• Staff profile page
• Quantum Computing with Trapped Ions
• Quantum Networking with Trapped Ions
• Precision Spectroscopy and Quantum Control of Trapped Molecular Ions

Dietrich Leibfried's main interests are quantum information processing, quantum simulation, quantum networking, and quantum control with trapped atomic and molecular ions.

Mason Marshall

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• Trapped Ion Optical Clocks

Mason Marshall works on precision measurements using quantum control of trapped ions.  His research centers on improving atomic ion optical clocks both for fundamental time metrology and for new tests of physics beyond the standard model, with current focus on developing an improved Al+ ion clock.

Daniel Slichter

• Staff profile page
• Quantum Computing with Trapped Ions
• Quantum Networking with Trapped Ions

Daniel Slichter's research focuses on quantum information experiments with trapped atomic ions, with an emphasis on developing new paradigms for scalable trapped ion quantum computing, integrating control and readout elements into microfabricated ion traps, and performing high-fidelity long-range quantum networking between trapped ion nodes using telecom-wavelength photons.

Andrew Wilson

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• Quantum Computing with Trapped Ions
• Quantum Networking with Trapped Ions

Andrew Wilson is the Chief of the NIST Quantum Physics Division and supports the broad quantum information science program at NIST. He is based at JILA, the joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado Boulder. In the Ion Storage Group, he performed quantum-information experiments on high-fidelity coherent control of atomic ions to explore applications of quantum entanglement including quantum logic and computing, quantum simulation, and quantum-enhanced precision measurement. A major emphasis of this research is the development of techniques and tools that will be needed for large-scale, fault-tolerant, quantum-information processors.

James C. Bergquist, Scientist Emeritus berky [at] boulder.nist.gov (Email)

Wayne Itano, Scientist Emeritus Email

David J. Wineland, NIST Associate djw34 [at] uoregon.edu (Email)

Adam Brandt

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• Quantum Computing with Trapped Ions

Adam is an NRC postdoctoral fellow working in Quantum II. He completed his undergraduate degree in Physics in 2014 at Missouri State. He got his Ph.D. from Colorado State University in 2021 working under Dr. Dylan Yost. While at CSU, he completed a high-precision spectroscopy measurement on atomic hydrogen, including substantial laser development research. In addition to quantum information, he is interested in high-fidelity manipulation of atoms for metrology and fundamental physics research and in developing the laser systems necessary in these applications.

Yu Liu

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• Precision Spectroscopy and Quantum Control of Trapped Molecular Ions

Yu Liu is a postdoctoral scholar working on quantum state control and precision spectroscopy of single trapped molecular ions. Before joining the Ion Storage family, he completed his thesis "Bimolecular chemistry at sub-microkelvin temperatures" at Harvard University under the supervision of Prof. Kang-Kuen Ni. Beginning in 2024, he is starting as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he'll continue to pursue research in the dynamics and spectroscopy of ultracold molecules.

Jennifer Lilieholm

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• Quantum Simulation and Sensing with Trapped Ions

Jennifer is a postdoc on the Penning trap experiment. She got her PhD in physics from the University of Washington working with an RF ion trap looking at quantum jumps and mixed species entanglement. She went to the University of Maine for undergrad and received Bachelor’s degrees in math and physics while performing biophysics research on the motion of molecules in live cells.

Nathan Lysne

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• Quantum Computing with Trapped Ions

Nathan is a postdoc working on the triangle trap project. He studied physics at Carleton College before doing research on neutral atom qudits and quantum simulation during his Ph.D. at the University of Arizona.

Baruch Margulis

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• Precision Spectroscopy and Quantum Control of Trapped Molecular Ions

Baruch is a Rothschild postdoctoral fellow working on the cryogenic molecular ions experiment. He got his Ph.D. in 2023 from the Weizmann Institute of Science under the supervision of Prof. Ed Narevicius, investigating scattering resonances in cold molecular collisions. When not in the lab he enjoys hiking with his family and cooking.

Lindsay Sonderhouse

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• Quantum Networking with Trapped Ions

Lindsay is an NRC postdoctoral fellow working on the quantum networking project. She received her Ph.D. from the Ye group at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she studied Fermi-degenerate three-dimensional optical lattice clocks.

Laurent Stephenson

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• Quantum Computing with Trapped Ions

Laurent is a postdoc working on the Magtrap project, focusing on laser-free quantum gates. He obtained his Ph.D. from Oxford in 2020 under Prof. David Lucas, for research on quantum networking with trapped ions.

Jules Stuart

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• Quantum Networking with Trapped Ions

Jules Stuart is a postdoc in the Ion Storage Group working on the quantum networking project. He has a Ph.D. in Physics from MIT and a B.S. in Physics from the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include quantum computation and networking with trapped ions and advanced methods of ion trap fabrication. Before joining the team at NIST, he worked at MIT Lincoln Laboratory as a research assistant on ion trapping projects with integrated electronics and photonics.

Christina Bowers

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• Quantum Computing with Trapped Ions

Tina is a graduate student on the Quantum I (MagTrap) project. She received her Bachelors degree in Physics from Colgate University in 2018. She worked in industry while taking graduate courses at Stanford University until 2022, when she enrolled at CU Boulder and joined the Ion Storage Group.

Margaret Bruff

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• Quantum Networking with Trapped Ions

Margie is a graduate student and NSF GRFP fellow working on the quantum network project. She received her Bachelor’s degrees in physics and math from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill She did undergraduate research in computational cosmology before becoming interested in quantum information in her junior year and getting started with trapped ions in her senior year with Prof. Jungsang Kim’s group at Duke University.

Bryce Bullock

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• Quantum Simulation and Sensing with Trapped Ions

Bryce is a graduate student on the Penning trap experiment under John Bollinger. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics, math, and computer science from Tulane University in 2018, and his master’s in physics from CU Boulder in 2020.

Dalton Chaffee

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• Precision Spectroscopy and Quantum Control of Trapped Molecular Ions

Dalton is a physics PhD student at CU Boulder who has been working on the cryogenic molecular ion experiment since 2019. He holds bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and applied physics from Purdue University. When not trapping ions, Dalton enjoys exploring nature and throwing plastic discs.

Kaitlyn David

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• Quantum Networking with Trapped Ions

Katie is a graduate student on the quantum network project. She completed her B.S. in Engineering Physics at Tulane University in 2018 where she did research in nonlinear and quantum optics with Prof. Ryan Glasser. She worked for two years as a Physical Scientist in the Acoustics Department of the Naval Oceanographic Office before starting grad school and joining the Ion Storage Group.

Philip Kent

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• Quantum Computing with Trapped Ions

Philip graduated from the University of Colorado in 2018 with a bachelors degree in engineering physics. He also holds a bachelors degree in applied mathematics from the University of Colorado. He joined the Stylus experiment as an undergraduate in 2016, working on transitioning the experiment to the ARTIQ control system. He continued on the Stylus experiment as a Ph.D. student at C.U. in 2019 and is currently working on studies to better understand electric field noise from surfaces with the aim of reducing its effect on trapped ions.

Hannah Knaack

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• Quantum Computing with Trapped Ions

Hannah became interested in quantum information after taking a class from Theresa Lynn in her sophomore year of college. As an undergrad, she did research in quantum optics under Theresa Lynn at Harvey Mudd, as well as in quantum simulation under Poul Jessen at the University of Arizona. She now works on generating high-fidelity entanglement between different ion species without lasers. In her free time she enjoys running up mountains, baking bread, and making elaborate homemade Halloween costumes.

Zhimin (Cheryl) Liu

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• Precision Spectroscopy and Quantum Control of Trapped Molecular Ions

Cheryl is a graduate student on Trapped Molecular Ions project. She received her Bachelor’s degree in physics from Bryn Mawr College.

Justin Niedermeyer

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• Quantum Computing with Trapped Ions

Justin is a doctoral candidate on the Triangle Trap experiment. In 2016, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Washington State University. He was a U.S. Department of State Fulbright Student at Heidelberg University in Germany from 2016 to 2017.

Daniel Rodriguez Castillo

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• Trapped Ion Optical Clocks

Daniel is a graduate student on the Al⁺ clock project. He received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and physics from George Mason University.

Jose Valencia

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• Trapped Ion Optical Clocks

Jose Valencia is a graduate student working on ultra-stable reference cavities for optical clocks. His work focuses on a cryogenic sapphire cavity that benefits from lower temperature and newer materials to improve the stability of optical resonators. As an undergrad, he was involved in Andrew Geraci's lab on mechanical cantilevers interacting with Rb transitions.

Jenny Wu

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• Quantum Computing with Trapped Ions

Jenny is a graduate student working on ion-trap quantum computing with beryllium and magnesium ions. In the Ion Storage Group, she has been involved in a variety of projects ranging from the first demonstration of a teleported CNOT gate in trapped ions to more recent results involving the coherent control and manipulation of trapped-ion motional modes. Jenny graduated from the University of Toronto in 2017 and during her time there worked on many diverse research projects including light-based cancer treatments, ultrafast photonics, and ion trap design and theory.

Ingrid Zimmermann

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• Quantum Computing with Trapped Ions

Ingrid is a graduate student working on quantum computing with trapped beryllium and magnesium ions. She completed a bachelor’s degree in physics from Rutgers University, during which time she was introduced to experimental physics at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory by Ross McDonald and Laurel Winter, and at Weida Wu’s condensed matter lab in Rutgers.