Quantum computing is a developing paradigm that offers significant advancement over current computing architectures in the fields of transmitting and processing information. In order to realize these improvements, quantum systems employ an analogue to classical bits called “qubits”, which are constructed to exploit quantum mechanical phenomena such as entanglement and superposition. One such qubit scheme using photons has been able to achieve both quantum interference and entanglement with interference couplers and Mach-Zehnder interferometers, respectively. My work will aid in the creation of an optical field-programmable-gate-array (FPGA) relying on these technologies that can perform a wide range of classical and quantum algorithms and is in sharp contrast to today’s integrated photonic circuits, which are essentially all hard-wired.

I worked in Professor Englund’s group on this project since Feb. 2014, developing a user interface to enable remote access, tuning of elements on the chip and simulation software to model the chip behavior. At EECS Department UC Berkeley I conducted research spintronics in the summer 2013.