Aaron D. O'Connell

Aaron D. O'Connell
O'Connell in January 2011
Born (1981-03-05) March 5, 1981 (age 43)
Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
EducationEckerd College (B.S., 2005) University of California, Santa Barbara (Ph.D., 2010)
Alma materUniversity of California, Santa Barbara
Eckerd College
Known forCreator of the first quantum machine

Aaron Douglas O'Connell (born March 5, 1981, in Allentown, Pennsylvania) is an American experimental quantum physicist.

Early life and education

O'Connell was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on March 5, 1981. In 2005, he received his bachelor's degree from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. In 2010, he received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Career

While working under Andrew N. Cleland and John M. Martinis at the University of California, Santa Barbara, he created the world's first quantum machine.[1] In particular, he was able to transfer the quantum state of a superconducting quantum bit, a device used in quantum computation, to the motional state of a macroscopic mechanical resonator.[2][3]

His measurements of the quantum machine constitute the first direct observations of quantized behavior in the motion of a visible object[4][5] and led the journal Science to honor his work as the Breakthrough of the Year in 2010.[1]

O'Connell spoke on the subject at TED2011 in Long Beach, California.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b Cho, Adrian (2010-12-17). "Breakthrough of the Year: The First Quantum Machine". Science. 330 (6011): 1604. Bibcode:2010Sci...330.1604C. doi:10.1126/science.330.6011.1604. PMID 21163978.
  2. ^ o’Connell, A. D.; Hofheinz, M.; Ansmann, M.; Bialczak, R. C.; Lenander, M.; Lucero, E.; Neeley, M.; Sank, D.; Wang, H.; Weides, M.; Wenner, J.; Martinis, J. M.; Cleland, A. N. (2010). "Quantum ground state and single-phonon control of a mechanical resonator". Nature. 464 (7289): 697–703. Bibcode:2010Natur.464..697O. doi:10.1038/nature08967. PMID 20237473. S2CID 4412475.
  3. ^ Castelvecchi, Davide (2012-03-18). "Macro-Weirdness: "Quantum Microphone" Puts Naked-Eye Object in 2 Places at Once". Scientific American. Retrieved 2012-03-03.
  4. ^ Aspelmeyer, Markus (2010-04-01). "Quantum mechanics: The surf is up". Nature. 464 (7289): 685–686. Bibcode:2010Natur.464..685A. doi:10.1038/464685a. PMID 20360725. S2CID 205054766.
  5. ^ Rodgers, Peter (2010-04-01). "Nanomechanics: Welcome to the quantum ground state". Nature Nanotechnology. 5 (4): 245. Bibcode:2010NatNa...5..245R. doi:10.1038/nnano.2010.70. PMID 20376070.
  6. ^ "Aaron O'Connell: Making sense of a visible quantum object".