Editor's Note: This story is part of Meet UChicagoan, a regular series focusing on the people who make UChicagoan an outstanding intellectual community. Read about others here.
The scope of scientific research is broad, starting with the philosophical – “What is information?” – to the cliche – “Where did you put that allen wrench?”
For University of Chicago graduate student Chloe Washabaugh, there's joy in it all. A Ph.D. Washabaugh, a quantum engineering student, shapes molecules into tiny quantum information processors, designing them to sense, transmit or store data — whatever the need.
As a molecular engineer and collaborator with Q-NEXT, the US Department of Energy's National Research Center for Quantum Information Sciences led by DOE's Argonne National Laboratory, Washabaugh was able to explore the nature of information, a mystery that attracted her to quantum research. in the first place. What is the basis of information? How is it expressed? How can we manipulate molecules to manipulate them?
Washabaugh is contributing to what is expected to be one of the biggest scientific developments of the century: quantum information engineering. By encoding data into specific features of atomic-sized matter, scientists are revolutionizing information technology. In the coming decades, quantum technologies are expected to push the boundaries of what can be achieved in healthcare, finance, and communications.
It's a completely new way of managing digital information. Today's technologies present information in the form of binary code – 0 or 1 – which can be translated as “Is there an electron there, or is there no electron there?” Washabo said. Quantum techniques, on the other hand, make fuller use of the electron.
“There is much more that an electron can do than just exist or not exist,” she said. “This is quantum information. Using the degrees of freedom inherent in these quantum mechanical objects.
Tailor for qubits
Washapo helps build custom molecules that can act as qubits, that is, carriers of quantum information.
In the family tree of qubit species, molecular qubits are a relatively young branch, having been in development for only a decade or so. The novelty of the research and the versatility of the promising technology made it an attractive target for Washapo.
“The way molecular qubits are designed allows a lot of flexibility in how they can be used,” she said. “And their development is young enough that you don't know what they're going to be good at yet. That's why I was excited to work on this.”
Her team's qubits consist of a central metallic atom — a “qubit star,” she calls it — connected to radioactive branches made of atoms, such as carbon or oxygen. The team adjusts the types and number of branches to adjust the performance of the qubits for different uses.
“It's like being a tailor on Savile Row: 'We want this edge and that edge in order to explore this physics and that physics,'” Washabaugh said. “Which molecules have better properties, for example, for quantum sensing or quantum communications applications? In principle, we can design a qubit tailored to any use.”
The group's specialty is qubits that interact in the optical range of light, making them compatible with a wide range of applications in sensing and communications.
This effort is a true collaboration. Washabaugh and her colleagues are part of a University of Chicago group headed by David Awshalom, director of Q-NEXT and the Liu Family Professor of Molecular Engineering. This team joins a lab at MIT headed by Professor Dana Friedman, which is also part of Q-NEXT.
The two groups have a complementary yin and yang: Friedman's group synthesizes molecules, and Oshalom's group uses advanced techniques to explore qubits and explore the fundamental physics that drives their performance.
“It's a really great feedback loop between physicists, chemists and materials scientists to develop this molecular platform for building good qubits,” Washabaugh said.
From Bob the Builder to Chloe the Crypto
A childhood Halloween foreshadowed Washabaugh's future as an engineer. When she was three years old, she dressed up as Bob the Builder. This outfit was related to her love of tech projects in elementary school, although she remembers when she was a middle schooler “she would cry and throw a tantrum when I started learning algebra. But once I figured it out, math started making sense to me.”
