Wolfgang Pfaff
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Education
- PhD, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, 2013
- Diplom (MSc), University of Regensburg, Germany, 2009
Biography
Wolfgang Pfaff received his PhD in Applied Physics from Delft University of Technology (Netherlands) in 2013, under the supervision of Ronald Hanson. His graduate work focused mainly on the quantum control, measurement, and entanglement of individual spins of Nitrogen Vacancy centers, resulting in the first-ever demonstration of deterministic quantum teleportation between distant qubits. Following his graduation, Pfaff joined the lab of Rob Schoelkopf at Yale, where he worked on highly coherent superconducting cavities as quantum memories, and pioneered protocols for distributing quantum information between superconducting devices. Pfaff joined Microsoft Quantum in 2017, using his expertise in superconducting quantum devices to investigate how future, topologically protected qubits can be measured and controlled. He joined the Physics department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Fall 2020 to set up his own lab focusing on superconductiong and hybrid quantum circuits, and in particular on how to scale them.
Academic Positions
- Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2020-present
- Postdoctoral Associate, Dept. of Applied Physics, Yale University, 2014-2017
Other Professional Employment
- Senior Researcher, Microsoft Quantum Lab Delft, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, 2019-2020
- Researcher, Microsoft Quantum Lab Delft, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, 2017-2019
Research Interests
- Distributed quantum computing
- Quantum networks
- Open quantum systems
- Superconducting quantum circuits
- Quantum information processing
Research Areas
Selected Articles in Journals
- D. de Jong, C. G. Prosko, D. M. A. Waardenburg, L. Han, F. K. Malinowski, P. Krogstrup, L. P. Kouwenhoven, J. V. Koski, and W. Pfaff. Rapid microwave-only characterization and readout of quantum dots using multiplexed gigahertz-frequency resonators. Phys. Rev. Appl. 16, 014007 (2021).
- C. J. Axline, L. D. Burkhart, W. Pfaff, M. Zhang, K. Chou, P. Campagne-Ibarcq, P. Reinhold, L. Frunzio, S. M. Girvin, L. Jiang, M. H. Devoret, and R. J. Schoelkopf. On-demand quantum state transfer and entanglement between remote microwave cavity memories, Nat. Phys. 14:7, 705-710 (2018).
- W. Pfaff, C. J. Axline, L. D. Burkhart, U. Vool, P. Reinhold, L. Frunzio, L. Jiang, M. H. Devoret, and R. J. Schoelkopf. Controlled release of multiphoton quantum states from a microwave cavity memory. Nat. Phys. 13:9, 882-887 (2017).
- M. Reagor, W. Pfaff, C. Axline, R. W. Heeres, N. Ofek, K. Sliwa, E. Holland, C. Wang, J. Blumoff, K. Chou, M. J. Hatridge, L. Frunzio, M. H. Devoret, L. Jiang, and R. J. Schoelkopf. Quantum memory with millisecond coherence in circuit QED. Phys. Rev. B 94, 014506 (2016).
- W. Pfaff, B. J. Hensen, H. Bernien, S. B. van Dam, M. S. Blok, T. H. Taminiau, M. J. Tiggelman, R. N. Schouten, M. Markham, D. J. Twitchen, and R. Hanson. Unconditional quantum teleportation between distant solid-state quantum bits. Science 345:6196, 532-535 (2014).
- H. Bernien, B. Hensen, W. Pfaff, G. Koolstra, M. S. Blok, L. Robledo, T. H. Taminiau, M. Markham, D. J. Twitchen, L. Childress, and R. Hanson. Heralded entanglement between solid-state qubits separated by three meters. Nature, 497: 86 (2013).
Recent Courses Taught
- PHYS 102 - College Physics: E&M & Modern
- PHYS 486 - Quantum Physics I
- PHYS 487 - Quantum Physics II