jcovey[at]illinois.edu

Brief bio (full CV here):

Richard Chace Tolman Post-doctoral Fellowship, California Institute of Technology, 2017-2020

Ph.D., JILA, University of Colorado-Boulder, 2011-2017

ltli[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio:

Lintao got his BS in Physics at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) and he is also a member of Electric & Electronic Science and Technology Innovation Center works on the hardware design of the analog front-end for the electronic instruments. His research at HUST was relative to the inter-satellite clock synchronization for the TianQin Project. In 2015, he extended my field to the cold atom physics by joining Dajun Wang's research group at Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). During his PhD research, he conducted different experiments relative to behavior of the ultracold Bose-Bose mixture. His thesis research is about the Bose polaron and the heteronuclear spinor experiments. 

wksun[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio:

Calvin has received his B.AS. in Nanotechnology Engineering at University of Waterloo in Canada, and his PhD under Prof. Paola Cappellaro at MIT working on developing small-scale quantum information processors based on electronic spins in diamond for applications in quantum sensing and quantum device characterization. 

He is interested in developing and demonstrating novel quantum protocols with Yb atom arrays for quantum simulation and communication.

zjia11[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio:

Gloria received her B.S. in physics at Wuhan University and her Ph.D. in physics under Prof. Kenneth R. Brown at Duke University. During her Ph.D. research, she focused on constructing a trapped-ion hardware platform using 171Yb+ ions for quantum information processing. She proposed and experimentally verified new approaches for robust quantum control methods and measurements on complex bosonic states.

Now switching gears to the same element but with one more electron, Gloria is interested in developing high-fidelity robust quantum control on Rydberg atoms from gate level to circuit level, and eventually scaling up to fault-tolerant quantum computation.

whuie2[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio (full CV here):

I graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Physics (minor in Mathematics) from Rice University. My research at Rice was in refining the long-range aspects of the ground-state strontium molecular potential via the development of numerical tools to solve the Schrodinger equation. Going forward, my interests lie in the scalability of techniques in quantum information science. 

xiyehu2[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio:

I graduated from University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with a B.S. in Engineering Physics in 2021. My undergraduate research was directed towards creating hybrid-entangled photon pairs in spatial mode and frequency via Spontaneous Four Wave Mixing in optical fibers. In my graduate study I hope to explore new tools in quantum information with light-matter interactions. 

aakash6[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio:

I graduated with a B.Tech. in Engineering Physics (& minor in CSE) from IIT Bombay. My undergraduate research was on quantum optimal control to maximize the fidelity of superconducting transmon qubits using Reinforcement Learning. Going forward, my interests lies in achieving large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computation.

narisak2[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio:

I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Colorado-Boulder and graduated with distinction. My research involves characterizing the optical and spin properties of defects in hexagonal boron nitride, a potential single photon emitter with vast applications in quantum sensing. In my upcoming graduate studies, I am eager to explore pioneering methods for quantum information involving light-matter interactions, reflecting my dedication to pushing quantum exploration further. 

yuhao9[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio:

I received a B.A. in Physics and Computer Science with Honors from Boston University, with minors in Business and Japanese. At BU, I studied the T1 relaxation of nitrogen-vacancy centers coupled to an ensemble of spin 1/2 particles. As a graduate student, I wish to learn and develop tools and techniques that bring us closer to building a useful quantum computer, particularly through Yb Rydberg arrays. In my free time, I enjoy classical & city pop music, Paradox & FromSoft games, and cooking.  

ew11[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio:

I earned B.S. degrees in Physics and Mathematics, and a B.A. in East Asian Languages and Cultures (Japanese focus) from Indiana University, Bloomington, and graduated with distinction. My undergraduate research was in building a 171Yb+ ion trap suitable for 2D quantum simulation. In my graduate studies, I worked on investigating noise in SiGe quantum dots before switching back to AMO physics. Moving forward, my interests lie in contributing to the development of neutral atom architectures that can be used scalably and flexibly for quantum computation in new and interesting ways.

wenhanh2[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio:

I earned a B.S. in Physics with a minor in Astronomy from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) and graduated with honors. I interned at UC Berkeley, where I studied an unconventional cooling method for Electron QIP. Later, I finished my senior thesis at Tsinghua University, focusing on long ion chain cooling and surface trap for ion trap quantum computing. In my graduate studies, I aim to contribute to large-scale quantum computing technologies. Let’s make larger entanglement! 

harveyc3[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio:

I graduated with a B.S. in Physics from Lewis University. I predominantly did research at Argonne National Lab where I assisted in installing upgraded optomechanical systems for the cooling and trapping of Radium to improve electric dipole moment (EDM) measurements. In my graduate studies, I am interested in learning and developing techniques for the scalability of quantum systems for computing and networking. 

hemanth4[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio:

I graduated from University of Munich (LMU) with a master's in physics and did my undergrad at Shiv Nadar University. I carried out undergraduate research in Topological photonics at University of Hyderabad in India and did my master's thesis at Max-Planck institute of Quantum Optics in Germany where I worked on generating holographic tweezer arrays to trap neutral Yb atoms. Going forward my interests lay in leveraging the advantages of neutral atom platforms to advance quantum simulation and fault-tolerant quantum computing. 

tianxue2[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio:

rupsade2[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio:

I completed my integrated Bachelor's-Master's degree at IACS, Kolkata, with a thesis investigating primordial black holes as dark matter candidates. Now pursuing my PhD in AMO physics, I focus on ultracold metastable helium (³He) gases—a system where exceptional properties like high-lying Rydberg states, optical metastability, and significant hyperfine structure converge. This unique combination enables cutting-edge quantum simulations and emerging applications in atom-based quantum technologies.

Beyond the lab, I express creativity through digital painting and experimental photography, finding surprising parallels between artistic composition and scientific visualization.

zl142[at]illinois.edu

Brief Bio: 

I received a B.S. in Physics & Neuroscience (minor in Chemistry) with Distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2023. My undergraduate research was on chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of monolayer tungsten di-selenide (WSe2), fabrication of ZnO/Cu2O solar cell via pulsed laser deposition (PLD), 2D FDTD simulation of electromagnetic cloaking with metamaterial, and synthesis of GeOx-BKC nanoparticles.

In my graduate studies, I’m interested in studying quantum computing with atomic qubits (He atoms in particular), along with techniques in quantum information science based on light-matter interactions.

asmiam2[at]illinois.edu

Junior in Physics.

jzhen24[at]illinois.edu

Junior in Physics.

abhun2[at]illinois.edu

Junior in Physics.

ashley19[at]illinois.edu

Junior in Physics.