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
Sparsification and Dimensionality Reduction of Portfolio Optimization QUBOs with QAOA
Our project began with a simple question: if some covariances between stocks are very small, do we need to keep all of them when optimizing a portfolio? In a quantum circuit, retaining a pairwise interaction can add gates. Removing enough interactions might make the calculation easier, but it could also change which stocks are selected. We want ... read more
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Rydberg Atoms and Quantum Scar States
Researching Rydberg Atoms and Quantum Scar States with our mentor, Dr. Tianci Zhou from Virginia Tech's Center for Quantum Information Science and Engineering.
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2D Thermal Mapping of a Microchip Using Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in Diamond
Introduction:
Infrared sensors are currently the most popular method for industrial temperature mapping, but they have limitations when applied to complex materials and micrometer-level scales. For example, infrared wavelengths can range from 0.7μm to 20μm. In addition, factors such as the emissivity of a material, as well as changes in ambie... read more
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Optimization of an NV-Diamond CW-ODMR Magnetometer for Sentinel Lymph Node Detection
NV diamonds has shown great promise in the field of sensing and navigation due to their high sensitivity to small changes in magnetic fields. Its incorporation into magnetometers is favorable due to its functionality at room temperature and ability to be made into a small size. One crystal structure consists of a vacancy and the replacement of a ca... read more
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Quantum-Optimized Reconstruction of Ketone Dynamics from Fabry-Pérot Optical Breath Measurements
Introduction: Diabetes management depends on measurements that are often invasive, intermittent, or expensive. Acetone in exhaled breath is linked to ketone metabolism and can be measured optically, but a breath spectrum is not itself a metabolic state: the clinically meaningful quantities—blood β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), acetoacetate, acetone, and t... read more
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Optimizing Quantum State Transfer in Sparse Networks
A quantum network can be modeled as a graph, with vertices representing sites that can hold an excitation and edges representing couplings between those sites. An excitation may be spread across several sites in a superposition. As the state evolves, probability amplitudes combine through interference, changing where the excitation is likely to ... read more
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YBCO Superconductor with Intercalated Calcium
Superconductors show promising applications in future electric grids in that they are capable of conducting electricity with zero resistance. Thus, they have the potential to massively increase the efficiency of current flow, which is applicable to commercial power grids and EV chargers. However, currently discovered superconductors exhibit super... read more
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