Previous Research

Quantum Physics in Drops

As a graduate student in the Goldman  lab at the University of Minnesota, I also investigated Physics in Drops but with experiments of a different kind; low temperature physics experiments on clusters of metal atoms. It turns out that drops of different shapes have fascinating quantum statistical properties. The drops that I studied were clusters of gold or lead atoms, so to see them and study their properties, I built a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope with a vacuum deposition chamber. By making spectroscopy measurements, the quantum mechanical energy levels of these clusters were resolved and studied as a function of the clusters' shape and size; the results of the statistical distribution of the energy levels were in good agreement with random matrix theory where the effects of classical disorder are relevant, and followed Poisson statistics when the classical dynamics were regular, and completely integrable.

Josephson Junction Metamaterials

A hallmark of Josephson junctions is their sensitivity to temperature and magnetic fields; this is a consequence of their superconducting properties and their intrinsic nonlinear inductance. In combination with their inductance (L), Josephson junctions (JJ) also have an intrinsic capacitance (C). These LC circuit elements are the same building blocks used in conventional metamaterials.

I investigated the interactions between microwaves and Josephson junction metamaterials at low temperatures and in dc magnetic fields. Due to the nonlinear inductance of the Josephson junctions, I was able to amplify evanescent waves and modulate their resonant frequency with dc magnetic fields. This is research that I did previously as a postdoc in the Anlage lab at the University of Maryland. Here's a pre-print.