The fellowship is awarded annually to a full-time graduate student pursuing a PhD (or equivalent) degree in the area of applied superconductivity, at an accredited college or university of recognized standing worldwide. The intention of the award is to encourage students to enter and contribute to the field of applied superconductivity. Prize: Each IEEE CSC Graduate Study Fellowship in Applied Superconductivity will consist of an honorarium of US $5,000 and a suitably inscribed certificate. Funding: IEEE Council on Superconductivity will provide the funding for these awards: - Each Award will have an associated honorarium of US $5,000. - Funds for this award will be provided by the IEEE Council on Superconductivity. - The maximum number of awards in a given year will be determined by the number of highly qualified candidates and the total Fellowship budget provided by the Council on Superconductivity for that year. - The IEEE Council on Superconductivity’s budget will remain net positive with the inclusion of funding for these fellowships. Presentation: Awards may be announced at the Applied Superconductivity Conference, at the Magnet Technology conference, or at other events designated by the President of the IEEE Council on Superconductivity. Basis for Judging: Award recipients will be selected based upon, in rank order: the quality of their prior work, the impact of their current research, impact of their potential research in superconductivity and their financial need. If a conflict of interest for any voting member or ex-officio member is identified with respect to an application for award, such as an application from a student with institutional or familial ties to the member, the member shall recuse themselves from the selection process for the application. Eligibility: To be eligible, the recipient must be pursuing full-time graduate studies in applied superconductivity at an accredited college/university and will finish their Ph.D. (or equivalent degree) after 1st September of the year that they apply. The applicant must have majored in engineering, materials, chemistry, physics, or a related area and have received a Bachelor's Degree, or equivalent, from an accredited college of recognized standing worldwide. Applicants are required to submit certified transcripts from all colleges/universities attended and three letters of recommendation from college/university professors or from research scientists or engineers at labs that the student has worked with that are familiar with the applicant's work. Award recipients will be selected based upon the quality of their prior work, the impact of their current research or the impact of their potential research in superconductivity, and their financial needs. We expect to distribute the Awards equally across the electronics, materials, and large-scale areas of superconductivity. In addition, the goal is to distribute awards across a diverse range of universities or colleges in terms of applications and geographical location. The CSC Graduate Study Fellowship in Applied Superconductivity can be awarded to an individual not more than one time. The eligibility and selection process shall comply with procedures and regulations established in IEEE and Society/Council governing documents, particularly with IEEE Policy 4.4 on Awards Limitations. Previous award winners are not eligible for substantially the same achievements (per IEEE Policies 4.4: An individual shall receive only one award for a given achievement unless the significance merits a higher award, which may be given in the following year or thereafter.) Nomination Form: Nominate for this Award Application Details: Application form and all letters of support need to be submitted by 28 February of the award year. Letters of recommendation should be sent separately to the Council's Operations Manager, Emilee Kramer, [email protected]. Please include the applicant's name in the file name. Application Form: Complete Application 2024 Photo: Filip Antončík Acceptance Speech × Photo: Pasquale Ercolano Acceptance Speech × Photo: Marvin Janitschke Acceptance Speech × Photo: Geonyoung Kim Acceptance Speech × Photo: Yerzhan Mustafa Acceptance Speech × Photo: Jianqiao Xiao Acceptance Speech × 2023 Photo: Jintao Hu Jintao Hu received the B.Eng. (Hons.) and M.Phil degrees in electrical engineering from The University of Sydney and The University of Hong Kong in 2017 and 2019, respectively. He is currently working toward the Ph.D degree with the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge. His current research interests include HTS magnet in medical application and HTS technologies for aircraft’s electrical propulsion systems. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Carlota Pereira de Almeida Carlos Carlota, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Geneva, is dedicated to optimizing Nb-coated copper superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) accelerating cavities for the Future Circular Collider (FCC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). These cavities play a critical role in accelerator energy consumption. Matching the performance of bulk-Nb technology in these cavities would have far-reaching implications for the SRF field and accelerator technology in general, resulting in cost reduction and enhanced sustainability. Carlota is determined to capitalize on the promising findings she has achieved thus far and aims to further enhance the performance of these devices in the remaining two years of her research. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Ross William Taylor Ross is a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science & Engineering at the Paihau-Robinson Research Institute at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington. His research focusses on superconducting magnet design, the characterisation of bulk superconductors, and HTS flux pump devices. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Raphael Unterrainer My name is Raphael Unterrainer, I’m currently working on my PhD in the position of project assistant at the Atominstitut, TU Wien. I started my scientific research on superconductivity early 2019 and plan to finish my PhD ath the end of this year. The focus lies on the experimental investigation of radiation defects on the superconducting properties of REBCO (Rare Earth Barium Copper Oxide) coated conductors. The aim of my work is to gain a better understanding of the influence of defects and defect structures on the physical properties of high temperature superconductors, to allow the development of radiation resistant conductors for fusion and accelerator applications. In the third year of my research I published a letter in SUST on the influence of annealing temperatures on the superconducting properties of radiation damaged coated conductors and the prospects of this technique to increase the expected life time of fusion magnets. Apart from my research focus I am currently invested in the technical development of my research group, which is necessary to stay on the cutting edge. I do this in cooperation with my colleagues by steadily improving old and designing new measurement techniques and devices. Before my PhD studies, I did my master’s degree at the TU Wien starting in 2016 until late 2018. Besides the compulsory courses I was trained and worked at the thin film physics group, where I gained the necessary knowledge about process and measurement control technology, which still helps me today at developing new measuring techniques. In the scope of my work I developed, constructed and tested a high vacuum multi-layer sputter deposition system. My master’s thesis was based on the results I gained by using this device to research the capabilities of latent heat sinks based on aluminum-bismuth multilayers for the application in high power electronics. In these years I worked part time at a start-up on the development of an ultrasonic positioning system for divers to help me fund my studies. This working opportunity taught me much on the topic of signal processing . Besides my interest in physics, which is mostly satisfied by my field of work, I invest most of my spare time in volunteer work at the mountaineering club Alpenverein Wien. There I am currently co-chair and leader of the alpinist team. This allows me to spend a lot of my leisure climbing, mountaineering and paragliding in the Austrian alps, usually guiding a group of fellow alpinists. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Sofia Viarengo Sofia is a PhD student in Energetics in Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy. Her research interest is the development of multiphysics numerical models for normal and off-normal operations for high-temperature superconducting cables for fusion, power transmission, and particle accelerator applications. She spent her second PhD year at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA, where she focused on the CORC® cable design. As a member of the Applied Superconductivity Educational Foundation (ASEF) since 2022, Sofia enjoys taking part and organizing outreach events for young students worldwide. Since 2023, Sofia is a member of the IEEE CSC Young Professionals. Acceptance Speech × Jennifer Volk Acceptance Speech × 2022 Photo: Arooj Akbar Arooj Akbar recently received her Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. Her Ph.D. research work at the Applied Superconductivity Group, EPFL, has been patented and is a breakthrough in the health monitoring of superconducting applications. Her Ph.D. focuses on fast hotspot detection in superconducting applications using fiber optic sensors and machine learning. Her technique can help overcome the reliability issue of superconducting power applications which are in increasing demand due to climate change and changing energy trends. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Mr. Shaon Barua Shaon is a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science and Engineering at Florida State University. He works as a graduate research assistant at the NHFML's Applied Superconductivity Center. His research focused on the critical current distributions of Bi-2212 round wires to better understand filament connectivity. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Gourav Datta Gourav is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at USC. Working as a graduate research assistant in the Energy Efficient Secure Sustainable Computing group under Prof. Peter A. Beerel, his current research is focused on energy-efficient hardware-software co-design using superconducting electronics. In the past, he has addressed challenges related to clock domain crossing & metastability in superconducting circuits which is critical to making the promise of a superconducting System-on-chip (SOC) a reality. He is interested in emergent ML applications such as Spiking Neural Networks that can leverage low-power and ultra-fast superconducting logic. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Ashleigh Francis Ashleigh is a PhD candidate in Materials Science & Engineering at Florida State University with an expected graduation date in December 2022. She works as a graduate research & teaching assistant at the Applied Superconductivity Center-NHMFL-FSU investigating the effects of nanostructure variations on the field, angle, and temperature dependence of the critical current density of REBCO coated conductors, and is interested in continuing related research for fusion applications after graduation. Ashleigh is the Chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee for the Applied Superconductivity Educational Foundation since 2021 and is also a committee member for the IEEE CSC Young Professionals. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Yufan Yan My Ph.D. research has been focused on the large-scale applications of high-temperature superconductors, including the AC loss in HTS cables and the screening of current-related behaviors in high-field magnets and accelerator magnets. By combining my practical experience in experiments with the advancement of modeling methods and magnet designs, I would like to continue my research and help to overcome the challenges for HTS magnets. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Yufeng Ye Bright is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science at MIT. Working as a graduate research assistant in the Quantum Coherent Electronics group under Prof. Kevin O'Brien, his research is focused on novel superconducting quarton couplers that could facilitate ultrastrong cross-Kerr between superconducting qubits and microwave photons. He is interested in applications such as ultrafast superconducting qubit readout, gates, and single microwave photon detection. Acceptance Speech × 2021 Photo: Thanatheepan Balachandran His research interest includes modeling ac losses in fully superconducting machines and performing multi-physics optimization to reach better machine performances. He also leads a 10-MW fully superconducting wind turbine study funded by NSF at UIUC. He also works as a Principal Electrical Engineer at Hinetics, focusing on overseeing prototyping efforts and electromagnetic design of MW scale motors. Mr. Balachandran was responsible for prototyping efforts on the UIUC-NASA 1-MW motor including winding qualification and stator assembly/qualification. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Marco Colangelo Marco’s research has been focused on developing devices based on superconducting nanowires. His research was first devoted to improving superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors for applications in classical and quantum communication. He is currently focused on studying the microwave properties of superconducting nanowires and how these can be harnessed to develop ultra-compact electronic devices. The development of a cryogenic microwave electronic platform based on superconducting nanowire might provide a path for scaling up superconducting quantum technology. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Jose Ferradas Troitino His PhD thesis, done both at University of Geneva and CERN, covers two different domains in the field of Applied Superconductivity: Large Scale and Materials, shedding new light into the mechanical behaviour of an accelerator magnet during a quench. Since 2021, he is working in the production of the new Nb3Sn quadrupole magnets (MQXF) for the High-Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. These will be the first Niobium-Tin magnets ever installed in a particle accelerator. Acceptance Speech × Photo: S. Imam Hossain Over the last few years, Bi-2212 has made profound advancements to become a commercially viable superconductor. My work has shed light on some key current limiting factors in Bi-2212 and opened up an opportunity to improve the performance by addressing these issues. I am grateful to my excellent colleagues at the Applied Superconductivity Center for their support. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Alessandro Miano During the last (third) year of my Ph.D., I was admitted as a Visiting Research Assistant in the Yale Applied Physics Department, where I developed and experimentally characterized a superconducting parametric amplifier with an independent in-situ control of two Hamiltonian coefficients. I firmly believe that the enormous potential of superconducting quantum circuits for the implementation of the future quantum processors has to be exploited by introducing more complicated and sophisticated circuital solutions: as we are now in the ENIAC-era of quantum computing, the path to large-scale quantum processors will be plenty of exciting and challenging tasks! Acceptance Speech × Photo: Hongye Zhang He is currently a research associate with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Manchester, working on superconducting electrical machines for future aircraft with zero CO2 emissions in a UK collaboration programme called H2GEAR. His research interests mainly include modelling of high-temperature superconductors, design of superconducting machines, and analysis of high-power electromagnetics. Acceptance Speech × 2020 Photo: Andrea Alimenti I would like to continue working on high frequencies characterization methods, always following a metrological approach. I hope that the knowledge and experiences developed during my PhD education will help me in finding new solutions that are useful for the realization of challenging technological applications of SCs. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Farzad Faramarzi My main project is to simulate, design and fabricate a dual-purpose superconducting circuit that can operate as an on-chip Fourier transfer spectrometer (FTS) and a traveling-wave kinetic inductance parametric amplifier (TKIP). By taking advantage of the nonlinearity, we can design novel superconducting circuits that can be used in astrophysics and quantum computing. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Enrico Felcini I strongly believe that my PhD can substantially impact the field of applied superconductivity by contributing to the technological development of LTS and HTS magnets for medical applications. Pursuing the GaToroid project up to its implementation as a clinical device could also open new market opportunities for superconducting magnets and, most importantly, use superconductivity to affect the well-being of oncological patients all over the world. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Gleb Krylov I would like to apply my expertise to develop novel approaches for control and readout of qubits, in particular, within large scale systems. Another important topic in this area is the 3-D integration. I intend to investigate the challenges introduced by the third dimension, including thermal and magnetic sources of decoherence, and optimal control within dense complex arrays. In addition, I would like to develop EDA approaches for intermediate and large-scale quantum processors. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Jun Ma I plan to contribute to the field of applied superconductivity through four important and promising research directions in my future career: fundamental phenomenon and mechanism of superconductivity, numerical modelling on high-temperature superconductor (HTS), HTS high field magnet, and HTS medical applications. Most importantly, the responsibility I feel highly motivated to shoulder is by no means only limited to technology and research. Therefore, I will continuously strive to create the equal and sterling learning opportunities that I have been given for every worthy student. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Miranda Thompson I intend to contribute a more comprehensive understanding of Josephson junction (JJ) barrier physics to the field of applied superconductivity. More accurate models will directly lead to more accurate simulations, and more accurate simulations are necessary for designing better working superconductive circuits. Acceptance Speech × 2019 Photo: Lorenzo Bortot Overall, I will push my HTS technology in high-field magnets for particle accelerators research in both its theoretical and technological aspects. I will integrate the rigorous mathematical perspective of the TEMF Institute at TU Darmstadt and the great expertise of CERN in magnets for accelerators. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Tahereh Jabbari I am working on logic locking techniques in superconductive electronics to improve security in superconductive technology. Also, SCE electronic design automation (EDA) tools in SFQ technology can be improved security analysis and failures in superconductive electronics. Significant progress in this project and fabrication techniques can result from programmable routing structure and programmable switches of the SFQ FPGA design in the field of applied superconductivity in the future. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Federica Pierro I would like to continue my research by experimentally investigating the behavior of HTS cables. Using skills acquired during my Ph.D., I would combine the experiments with finite element modelling. Finally, I would like to expand my knowledge working on aspects relevant to magnet design, where I believe my knowledge of finite element modeling and testing would be well suited. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Nicolò Riva If now I think of the issues that our field is facing, such as penetrating the market, I am certain that it is our responsibility to transmit to people, not necessarily experts in the field, the importance, and the high impact that Superconductivity and the Science in general have on the world. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Emily Toomey During the past four years, I have researched thermal nonlinearities in superconducting nanowires and how to use them for the development of new devices. In my future work, I aspire to continue investigating how superconducting nanowire dynamics can be controlled and harnessed for the development of new electronics. Acceptance Speech × Photo: Abigail Wessels Through my involvement with optimization of soft x-ray TESs, I intend to help broaden the impact of the applied superconductivity field and continue to increase its relevance within the scientific community. As TESs become used more commonly for fundamental research in biology, chemistry and physics the impact of our work increases in scale and scope. Acceptance Speech × 2018 Photo: Naveen Kumar Katam Acceptance Speech × Photo: Geon Seok Lee Acceptance Speech × Photo: Simon Otten Acceptance Speech × Photo: Boyang Shen Acceptance Speech × Photo: Daikang Yan Acceptance Speech × Photo: Andrea Zappatore Acceptance Speech × 2017 Photo: Clinton Bockstiegel Acceptance Speech × Photo: Christine Annette Donnelly Acceptance Speech × Photo: Meysam Heydari Gharahcheshmeh Acceptance Speech × Photo: Michal Maciejewski Acceptance Speech × Photo: Federico Scurti Acceptance Speech × Photo: Shengnan Zou Acceptance Speech × 2016 Nikolay Bykovsky Acceptance Speech × Photo: Meysam Heydari Gharahcheshmeh Acceptance Speech × Bethany Niedzielski Acceptance Speech × Presentation Photo × Photograph of 2016 recipients at ASC in Denver: (L to R) Meysam Heydari Gharahcheshmeh, Bethany Niedzielski, Max Sieger, Jeroen van Nugteren, and Xiaohang Zhang. In front of awardees is Dr. Kathleen Amm (Member, CSC Graduate Study Fellowship Committee, and ASC 2016 General Chair). Nikolay Bykovsky was not present for photo. Max Sieger Acceptance Speech × Jeroen van Nugteren Acceptance Speech × Xiaohang Zhang Acceptance Speech × 2015 Angelo Di Bernardo Acceptance Speech × Guangze Li Acceptance Speech × Yingzhen Liu Acceptance Speech × Emmanuele Ravaioli Acceptance Speech × Matthew Reagor Acceptance Speech × Claudia Stahl Acceptance Speech × 2014 Nathaniel Allen Acceptance Speech × Roberto Bonifetto Acceptance Speech × Golsa Naderi Acceptance Speech × Xizhu Peng Acceptance Speech × Emmanuele Ravaioli Acceptance Speech × Xiaohang Zhang Acceptance Speech × 2013 Photo: Soumen Kar Acceptance Speech × Jiaying Ling Acceptance Speech × Carlos Sanabria Acceptance Speech × Mark Volkmann Acceptance Speech × Jeremy Weiss Acceptance Speech × Chao Zhou Acceptance Speech × 2012 Amir Kajbafvala Acceptance Speech × Peter Lowell Acceptance Speech × Amy Lowitz Acceptance Speech × Faraz Najafi Acceptance Speech × Adam J. Sirois Acceptance Speech × 2011 Kyle Damborsky Acceptance Speech × Peter Lowell Acceptance Speech × Franco Julio Mangiarotti Acceptance Speech × Load More
Jintao Hu received the B.Eng. (Hons.) and M.Phil degrees in electrical engineering from The University of Sydney and The University of Hong Kong in 2017 and 2019, respectively. He is currently working toward the Ph.D degree with the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge. His current research interests include HTS magnet in medical application and HTS technologies for aircraft’s electrical propulsion systems.
Carlota, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Geneva, is dedicated to optimizing Nb-coated copper superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) accelerating cavities for the Future Circular Collider (FCC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). These cavities play a critical role in accelerator energy consumption. Matching the performance of bulk-Nb technology in these cavities would have far-reaching implications for the SRF field and accelerator technology in general, resulting in cost reduction and enhanced sustainability. Carlota is determined to capitalize on the promising findings she has achieved thus far and aims to further enhance the performance of these devices in the remaining two years of her research.
Ross is a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science & Engineering at the Paihau-Robinson Research Institute at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington. His research focusses on superconducting magnet design, the characterisation of bulk superconductors, and HTS flux pump devices.
My name is Raphael Unterrainer, I’m currently working on my PhD in the position of project assistant at the Atominstitut, TU Wien. I started my scientific research on superconductivity early 2019 and plan to finish my PhD ath the end of this year. The focus lies on the experimental investigation of radiation defects on the superconducting properties of REBCO (Rare Earth Barium Copper Oxide) coated conductors. The aim of my work is to gain a better understanding of the influence of defects and defect structures on the physical properties of high temperature superconductors, to allow the development of radiation resistant conductors for fusion and accelerator applications. In the third year of my research I published a letter in SUST on the influence of annealing temperatures on the superconducting properties of radiation damaged coated conductors and the prospects of this technique to increase the expected life time of fusion magnets. Apart from my research focus I am currently invested in the technical development of my research group, which is necessary to stay on the cutting edge. I do this in cooperation with my colleagues by steadily improving old and designing new measurement techniques and devices. Before my PhD studies, I did my master’s degree at the TU Wien starting in 2016 until late 2018. Besides the compulsory courses I was trained and worked at the thin film physics group, where I gained the necessary knowledge about process and measurement control technology, which still helps me today at developing new measuring techniques. In the scope of my work I developed, constructed and tested a high vacuum multi-layer sputter deposition system. My master’s thesis was based on the results I gained by using this device to research the capabilities of latent heat sinks based on aluminum-bismuth multilayers for the application in high power electronics. In these years I worked part time at a start-up on the development of an ultrasonic positioning system for divers to help me fund my studies. This working opportunity taught me much on the topic of signal processing . Besides my interest in physics, which is mostly satisfied by my field of work, I invest most of my spare time in volunteer work at the mountaineering club Alpenverein Wien. There I am currently co-chair and leader of the alpinist team. This allows me to spend a lot of my leisure climbing, mountaineering and paragliding in the Austrian alps, usually guiding a group of fellow alpinists.
Sofia is a PhD student in Energetics in Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy. Her research interest is the development of multiphysics numerical models for normal and off-normal operations for high-temperature superconducting cables for fusion, power transmission, and particle accelerator applications. She spent her second PhD year at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA, where she focused on the CORC® cable design. As a member of the Applied Superconductivity Educational Foundation (ASEF) since 2022, Sofia enjoys taking part and organizing outreach events for young students worldwide. Since 2023, Sofia is a member of the IEEE CSC Young Professionals.
Arooj Akbar recently received her Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. Her Ph.D. research work at the Applied Superconductivity Group, EPFL, has been patented and is a breakthrough in the health monitoring of superconducting applications. Her Ph.D. focuses on fast hotspot detection in superconducting applications using fiber optic sensors and machine learning. Her technique can help overcome the reliability issue of superconducting power applications which are in increasing demand due to climate change and changing energy trends.
Shaon is a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science and Engineering at Florida State University. He works as a graduate research assistant at the NHFML's Applied Superconductivity Center. His research focused on the critical current distributions of Bi-2212 round wires to better understand filament connectivity.
Gourav is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at USC. Working as a graduate research assistant in the Energy Efficient Secure Sustainable Computing group under Prof. Peter A. Beerel, his current research is focused on energy-efficient hardware-software co-design using superconducting electronics. In the past, he has addressed challenges related to clock domain crossing & metastability in superconducting circuits which is critical to making the promise of a superconducting System-on-chip (SOC) a reality. He is interested in emergent ML applications such as Spiking Neural Networks that can leverage low-power and ultra-fast superconducting logic.
Ashleigh is a PhD candidate in Materials Science & Engineering at Florida State University with an expected graduation date in December 2022. She works as a graduate research & teaching assistant at the Applied Superconductivity Center-NHMFL-FSU investigating the effects of nanostructure variations on the field, angle, and temperature dependence of the critical current density of REBCO coated conductors, and is interested in continuing related research for fusion applications after graduation. Ashleigh is the Chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee for the Applied Superconductivity Educational Foundation since 2021 and is also a committee member for the IEEE CSC Young Professionals.
My Ph.D. research has been focused on the large-scale applications of high-temperature superconductors, including the AC loss in HTS cables and the screening of current-related behaviors in high-field magnets and accelerator magnets. By combining my practical experience in experiments with the advancement of modeling methods and magnet designs, I would like to continue my research and help to overcome the challenges for HTS magnets.
Bright is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science at MIT. Working as a graduate research assistant in the Quantum Coherent Electronics group under Prof. Kevin O'Brien, his research is focused on novel superconducting quarton couplers that could facilitate ultrastrong cross-Kerr between superconducting qubits and microwave photons. He is interested in applications such as ultrafast superconducting qubit readout, gates, and single microwave photon detection.
His research interest includes modeling ac losses in fully superconducting machines and performing multi-physics optimization to reach better machine performances. He also leads a 10-MW fully superconducting wind turbine study funded by NSF at UIUC. He also works as a Principal Electrical Engineer at Hinetics, focusing on overseeing prototyping efforts and electromagnetic design of MW scale motors. Mr. Balachandran was responsible for prototyping efforts on the UIUC-NASA 1-MW motor including winding qualification and stator assembly/qualification.
Marco’s research has been focused on developing devices based on superconducting nanowires. His research was first devoted to improving superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors for applications in classical and quantum communication. He is currently focused on studying the microwave properties of superconducting nanowires and how these can be harnessed to develop ultra-compact electronic devices. The development of a cryogenic microwave electronic platform based on superconducting nanowire might provide a path for scaling up superconducting quantum technology.
His PhD thesis, done both at University of Geneva and CERN, covers two different domains in the field of Applied Superconductivity: Large Scale and Materials, shedding new light into the mechanical behaviour of an accelerator magnet during a quench. Since 2021, he is working in the production of the new Nb3Sn quadrupole magnets (MQXF) for the High-Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. These will be the first Niobium-Tin magnets ever installed in a particle accelerator.
Over the last few years, Bi-2212 has made profound advancements to become a commercially viable superconductor. My work has shed light on some key current limiting factors in Bi-2212 and opened up an opportunity to improve the performance by addressing these issues. I am grateful to my excellent colleagues at the Applied Superconductivity Center for their support.
During the last (third) year of my Ph.D., I was admitted as a Visiting Research Assistant in the Yale Applied Physics Department, where I developed and experimentally characterized a superconducting parametric amplifier with an independent in-situ control of two Hamiltonian coefficients. I firmly believe that the enormous potential of superconducting quantum circuits for the implementation of the future quantum processors has to be exploited by introducing more complicated and sophisticated circuital solutions: as we are now in the ENIAC-era of quantum computing, the path to large-scale quantum processors will be plenty of exciting and challenging tasks!
He is currently a research associate with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Manchester, working on superconducting electrical machines for future aircraft with zero CO2 emissions in a UK collaboration programme called H2GEAR. His research interests mainly include modelling of high-temperature superconductors, design of superconducting machines, and analysis of high-power electromagnetics.
I would like to continue working on high frequencies characterization methods, always following a metrological approach. I hope that the knowledge and experiences developed during my PhD education will help me in finding new solutions that are useful for the realization of challenging technological applications of SCs.
My main project is to simulate, design and fabricate a dual-purpose superconducting circuit that can operate as an on-chip Fourier transfer spectrometer (FTS) and a traveling-wave kinetic inductance parametric amplifier (TKIP). By taking advantage of the nonlinearity, we can design novel superconducting circuits that can be used in astrophysics and quantum computing.
I strongly believe that my PhD can substantially impact the field of applied superconductivity by contributing to the technological development of LTS and HTS magnets for medical applications. Pursuing the GaToroid project up to its implementation as a clinical device could also open new market opportunities for superconducting magnets and, most importantly, use superconductivity to affect the well-being of oncological patients all over the world.
I would like to apply my expertise to develop novel approaches for control and readout of qubits, in particular, within large scale systems. Another important topic in this area is the 3-D integration. I intend to investigate the challenges introduced by the third dimension, including thermal and magnetic sources of decoherence, and optimal control within dense complex arrays. In addition, I would like to develop EDA approaches for intermediate and large-scale quantum processors.
I plan to contribute to the field of applied superconductivity through four important and promising research directions in my future career: fundamental phenomenon and mechanism of superconductivity, numerical modelling on high-temperature superconductor (HTS), HTS high field magnet, and HTS medical applications. Most importantly, the responsibility I feel highly motivated to shoulder is by no means only limited to technology and research. Therefore, I will continuously strive to create the equal and sterling learning opportunities that I have been given for every worthy student.
I intend to contribute a more comprehensive understanding of Josephson junction (JJ) barrier physics to the field of applied superconductivity. More accurate models will directly lead to more accurate simulations, and more accurate simulations are necessary for designing better working superconductive circuits.
Overall, I will push my HTS technology in high-field magnets for particle accelerators research in both its theoretical and technological aspects. I will integrate the rigorous mathematical perspective of the TEMF Institute at TU Darmstadt and the great expertise of CERN in magnets for accelerators.
I am working on logic locking techniques in superconductive electronics to improve security in superconductive technology. Also, SCE electronic design automation (EDA) tools in SFQ technology can be improved security analysis and failures in superconductive electronics. Significant progress in this project and fabrication techniques can result from programmable routing structure and programmable switches of the SFQ FPGA design in the field of applied superconductivity in the future.
I would like to continue my research by experimentally investigating the behavior of HTS cables. Using skills acquired during my Ph.D., I would combine the experiments with finite element modelling. Finally, I would like to expand my knowledge working on aspects relevant to magnet design, where I believe my knowledge of finite element modeling and testing would be well suited.
If now I think of the issues that our field is facing, such as penetrating the market, I am certain that it is our responsibility to transmit to people, not necessarily experts in the field, the importance, and the high impact that Superconductivity and the Science in general have on the world.
During the past four years, I have researched thermal nonlinearities in superconducting nanowires and how to use them for the development of new devices. In my future work, I aspire to continue investigating how superconducting nanowire dynamics can be controlled and harnessed for the development of new electronics.
Through my involvement with optimization of soft x-ray TESs, I intend to help broaden the impact of the applied superconductivity field and continue to increase its relevance within the scientific community. As TESs become used more commonly for fundamental research in biology, chemistry and physics the impact of our work increases in scale and scope.
