Principal investigator
Johannes Pollanen
Johannes is the Cowen Distinguished Chair in Experimental Physics and an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at MSU. He is also the Associate Director of MSU's Center for Quantum Computing Science and Engineering (MSU-Q) and a co-founder and board member of the Midwest Quantum Collaboratory. Johannes is also a member of the US National High Magnetic Field Laboratory's DC Field/High B/T Advisory Committee. He thinks qubits, electrons, superfluids, superconductors and hybrid quantum systems are very cool. He's also pretty good at hard soldering, leak checking, threading the wire-bonder and machining ... or at least he used to be.
Before joining the faculty at Michigan State, Johannes was an IQIM postdoctoral scholar at the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter (IQIM) at the California Institute of Technology working with Prof. Jim Eisenstein. At Caltech, he studied the exotic properties and many-body quantum states of single and bilayer 2d electron systems in ultra-clean semiconductor heterostructures grown via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).
Johannes earned his Ph.D. in 2012 from Northwestern University where he worked with Prof. Bill Halperin in the Low Temperature Physics Group investigating the properties of complex many-particle quantum systems and engineering novel quantum mechanical forms of matter. During this time, Johannes discovered a new chiral state of superfluid 3He, which he stabilized by introducing anisotropic disorder to the superfluid in the form of high porosity silica aerogel.
Postdocs & Visiting Researchers
Dr. Pranaya Rath
Pranaya earned his Ph.D. in physics from IISc Bangalore in India. During this time he investigated the properties of multi-electron bubbles in liquid helium working with Prof. Ambarish Ghosh. At the LHQS Pranaya is working to develop novel surface acoustic wave (SAW) and bulk acoustic wave (BAW) devices for interfacing with superconducting qubit systems.
Dr. Kyle T. Lewallen
Kyle graduated from Michigan State University in 1984 with a B.S. in Geological Sciences (now Earth and Environmental Sciences) followed by a M.S. in Geophysics at Texas A&M University and eventually a Ph.D. in Geophysics at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He worked for 32 years as a Geophysicist in the Oil & Gas business and retired from ExxonMobil in 2021. During his career, Kyle designed and acquired 3D seismic surveys for ExxonMobil’s worldwide affiliates and led research to improve subsurface imaging using ultra-low frequencies and multicomponent seismic data. His intellectual hobby in retirement is learning more about quantum physics by volunteering in the Laboratory for Hybrid Quantum Systems. Currently he is working to develop novel electron emission sources for electron on helium hybrid devices.
Graduate Students
Camille Mikolas
Camille’s research interests are in developing new circuit quantum electrodynamic (cQED) experiments to study superconducting qubits and trapped electrons on the surface of superfluid helium in order to obtain insight into how these systems exhibit quantum effects in hybrid systems.
Austin Schleusner
Austin is currently investigating the high-frequency dynamics of electrons on helium. These experiments are aimed at understanding the interplay between the high-frequency collective response of the electron system and its coupling to the bosonic field of excitations on the surface of the helium.
Camryn Undershute
Camryn’s research interests involve superfluids, superconducting circuit-based qubits, and hybrid quantum acoustic systems. These systems reside at the exciting and ever-evolving intersection of condensed matter physics and quantum information science. She is also an accomplished figure-skater.
Alex Carrothers
Alex joined the LHQS in the Summer of 2024. Before starting his Ph.D. work at MSU, Alex did his undergraduate degree in physics at the University of Mount Union. At the LHQS Alex is working on quantum acoustic devices based on surface acoustic wave (SAW) and bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonators on novel piezoelectric materials. Alex is also an accomplished wrestler.
Undergraduate Students
Abby Peterson
Abby was an MSU undergradute studying Computer Science as well as minoring in Leadership of Organizations and Dance. Her research interests include all things quantum computing as well as computer engineering. She helped to upgrade the qubit control and data analysis software in the LHQS and improving data visualization software for superconducting qubit experiments. She was a member of Women In Engineering. Abby also worked as an undergraduate learning assistant for Physics 183.
Monawar Mesbah
Monawar is an MSU junior studying Computer Engineering. At the LHQS Monawar is working on a team to develop & design novel quantum phononic devices and simulate their electromagnetic response.
We're always on the lookout for enthusiastic folks to join the LHQS team! If you're interested in our research send Johannes Pollanen an email to inquire about possible openings.