Welcome to the
Q Lab!

The Quantum Information and Optics Lab, affectionately known as the Q Lab, is a part of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Northern Virginia. Each year, the lab welcomes a handful of seniors conducting their capstone research project. Equipped with state-of-the-art microscopes, optical equipment and sensors, the Q Lab enables these young physicists to conduct research in a college-like environment.




Recently Updated Projects

ADAPT-VQE

Akansha, Sophia, Kade

coming soon

Exploring Quantum Based Adapter Methods and Reparameterization for Transformer Models

Joshua

coming soon

A Quantum Bayesian-Adapted Model for Assessing Environmental Impacts of the Global Economy

Avni, Megan

Rapid globalisation in the past decade has led growth in trade to quickly outpace growth in real-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) across the globe. As such, the impact of a nation’s consumption has aggravated by an unprecedented magnitude; value chains of most products span many countries with rising pressures of economic activity on global ecosystems constituting a growing need for effective policy. Measurements for quantifying and analysing the scale of environmental shocks across trade networks have largely focused on embedded emissions, which in this project will be represented in a multi-regional input-output model (MRIO), extended with environmental coefficients to appraise corresponding value chains. Ultimately, with the usage of both a Bayesian probability and quantum-agent based model, we wish to provide a simulated pseudo-economy for which environmental effects (embodied CO2) can be appropriately measured for various scenarios. Building upon previous mathematical foundations provided by IAM modeling, this project aims to provide empirical support for global policies to push for the sustainable management of supply chains, as well as in the emerging field of quantum economics.

Doppler-free Saturation Spectroscopy with Rb

Ophelia

coming soon

The Creation and Classification of Nitrogen-Vacancy Diamonds Grown through Chemical Vapor Deposition

Niels-Oliver

This research aims to synthesize and classify Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) diamonds using chemical vapor deposition for applications in quantum computing. NV diamonds have valence electrons that can exist in a state of superposition, which makes them excellent candidates for qubits and would allow improvements in quantum computing. To synthesize the NV diamond, a combination of hydrogen gas, methane, and nitrous gas will be heated in a vacuum chamber to 800 degrees Celsius. The growth of the diamond will start on a seed crystal and will proceed until an eighth-carat diamond has been grown. The research will then classify the diamond as an NV diamond, utilizing the unique fluorescent properties of the NV centers in the diamond. Ultimately, the research will prove that NV diamonds can be created in a cost-effective manner outside of a university laboratory.

PINNs for Ground State Determination and Fisher Information-Based Phase Transition Detection

Claire, Avery

Quantum phases are states of matter which exist at near absolute zero temperatures, where quantum effects govern the system. The transition between phases is called a quantum phase transition (QFT), and is of interest particularly when the order parameter, a value that usually characterizes transitions, is not known. Instead, quantum and classical phase transitions can be detected through the use of the Fisher Information Metric (FIM) in various unsupervised learning tasks. In this research project, we aim to explore the potential of Physics Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) to approximate the ground-truth state FIM in predicting quantum phase transitions. We hypothesize that the PINNs will perform faster in predicting the ground-state FIM values compared to current approaches such as Monte-Carlo, Lanczos, and density matrix renormalization group (DMRG), which are much more computationally intensive.

Implementing Grover’s Diffusion Operator in A Single Photon, 2-Qubit Spatial Mode System

Neha

Quantum communications offers a revolutionary solution to future data security challenges. Photons, the building blocks of quantum communications, encode quantum information, such as polarization and momentum. We investigate the enhancement of communications protocols by treating the spatial modes of a single polarization-encoded photon as two separate qubits. In effect, we can recreate traditional 2-photon operations in an individual photon, improving the scability of quantum devices. To demonstrate the robustness of our approach, we will create a controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate using path entanglement between the spatial mode qubits in the polarization basis. The second part of project will be in constructing the Grover's diffusion operator using our 2-qubit single photon system and our optically implemented CNOT gate. At the detectors, we will observe the output states of the spatial modes to determine whether the amplitude has successfully been rotated. We expect the detector corresponding to the state marked by the Oracle to have the highest number of photon coincidences.