News - UMD Physics

Srinivasan Named NIST Co-Director of JQI

Details: Category: Department News; Published: Monday, September 15 2025 00:01

Adjunct Professor Kartik Srinivasan has been appointed the newest National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Co-Director of JQI. He assumed the role on Sept. 8, 2025 and will be working with Jay Sau who has been the University of Maryland (UMD) Co-Director of JQI since 2022.

“The JQI is central to quantum science research at NIST and UMD,” says Srinivasan. “I look forward to helping it continue to be successful.”

Srinivasan has been a project leader at NIST since 2007 and became a JQI Fellow and NIST Fellow in 2019. In these roles, he has researched integrated photonics—a field that studies how light and its particles (photons) behave and can be manipulated in structures made on compact semiconductor chips. Much of his research has explored ways that light can interact with matter to produce unique phenomena that reveal novel physics and may lead to practical technologies for quantum computing, metrology and sensing. Kartik Srinivasan

In recent years, Srinivasan and his colleagues have been developing chip-scale frequency combs—devices that produce laser light at a series of evenly spaced frequencies. Frequency combs are valuable tools for precisely measuring light, and smaller versions could help miniaturize high-performance atomic clocks and improve GPS resilience. Srinivasan’s team has also been studying ways to create low-noise, chip-scale laser sources in colors that are useful for quantum information science. In 2024, he and his collaborators developed a way to generate lasers across the green-yellow-orange-red spectral region using compact devices. Low-noise lasers in these colors are generally hard to produce with compact devices, and they are useful for driving quantum transitions in many important atomic and solid-state quantum systems.

Srinivasan has been an Optica Fellow since 2018 and has received multiple awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering in 2010, the NIST Department of Commerce Gold Medal in 2021, and the NIST Samuel Wesley Stratton Award in 2022.

He is taking over the role of NIST Co-Director from JQI Fellow Gretchen Campbell, who had held the position since 2016. Campbell was recently appointed the associate vice president for quantum research and education at the University of Maryland. Sau, the UMD JQI Co-Director, expressed gratitude for Campbell’s stewardship of the institute and looks forward to working more closely with Srinivasan.

"It has been a pleasure to have worked with Gretchen as the NIST co-director of JQI,” says Sau, who is also an associate professor of physics at UMD and a member of the Condensed Matter Theory Center. “We are really excited that Kartik is able to step into the role and bring to bear his experience of exemplary collaborations within JQI."

Original story by Bailey Bedford: https://jqi.umd.edu/news/srinivasan-named-nist-co-director-jqi

Maryland Quantum-Thermodynamics Hub Secures Funding for Three More Years

Details: Category: Department News; Published: Monday, September 15 2025 00:01

Watch housing Researchers at the pioneering Maryland Quantum-Thermodynamics Hub meld 19th century physics with the modern techniques and tools of quantum information science. Since 2022, they have plumbed the intriguing depths of this disciplinary fusion, uncovering a deeper understanding of how the everyday world emerges from the quantum realm of tiny particles.

Now, new funding will catapult the hub into the next three years, enabling the addition of new team members and a renewed focus on answering open research questions that might lead to better quantum computers and even alter our fundamental understanding of the nature of time.

The hub launched three years ago with a $2 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation. New funding for the next three years includes a recommitment from Templeton that will match support from the state via Gov. Wes Moore’s Capital of Quantum Initiative and University of Maryland campus sponsors like the National Quantum Laboratory, the Brin Mathematics Research Center and the Institute for Physical Science and Technology. Several private companies, including Fidelity Investments and Normal Computing, will provide additional support. Altogether the new funding totals more than $5 million and will support team members at UMD as well as the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC); the University of Southern California; the University of Arizona; Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico; the University of Rochester in New York; and University College Dublin.

“The intention is to make Maryland a lodestone for quantum thermodynamics in North America,” says Nicole Yunger Halpern, an adjunct assistant professor of physics at UMD and a co-leader of the hub who is also a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and a Fellow of the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science.

Hub researchers mix the old with the new, combining three fields of physics from different centuries. The oldest is thermodynamics, which emerged from the industrial revolution in the 19th century and investigates, among other things, how machines transform energy into work and heat. Next is quantum physics, which was founded in the 20th century and provides our most fundamental understanding of nature at the level of atoms, electrons and other tiny constituents of matter and energy. Finally, quantum information science, which has become a major field in the early 21st century, applies the rules of quantum physics to information processing and has led to new applications like quantum computing, quantum networking and quantum sensing. Quantum thermodynamics seeks to combine the best tools and insights from all these areas to answer both deep and practical questions about the physical world. While fusing these fields together over the past three years, researchers at the hub have published more than 60 journal articles, conference papers and preprints, and the hub has supported five Ph.D. theses.

“I'm excited that we've obtained funding to build on the success of our first three years,” says Distinguished University Professor Christopher Jarzynski, a co-leader of the hub who is also a professor of physics and a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UMD. “The hub has firmly placed Maryland on the map as a center for innovative quantum thermodynamics research, education and outreach.”

Research at the hub broadly investigates how quantum systems, such as collections of atoms, interact with their environments and the variety of ways that quantum features either frustrate or facilitate thermodynamic processes like energy or information exchange. Energy exchange between a system and its environment helps explain how physical systems thermalize, or end up at a shared temperature. Information exchange explains how the values of quantum measurements—typically of just a few quantum particles—are imprinted in much larger measurement devices.

One particular mystery energizes many scientists at the hub—a nagging problem at the heart of physics that researchers refer to as the arrow of time. The gist of the problem is that although the detailed microscopic theories of physics look the same whether time is running forwards or backwards, the much larger scale of everyday reality seems to have an unmistakable direction. We never see an egg unscramble itself or smoldering ash and smoke reassemble into a log. Somewhere between the reversible rules of microscopic physics and our common experience of the world, there is a transition, an emergent effect that causes time to flow toward the future.

“The big goal of the hub has been to identify how, from microscopic quantum physics, our classical objective reality emerges thermodynamically,” says Yunger Halpern. “Thermodynamics traditionally has addressed large numbers of particles, and it stems from the actions of many, many small particles. So thermodynamics kind of bridges scales and helps us understand how large-scale macroscopic phenomena emerge, such as the arrow of time.”

Some hub researchers have been motivated by questions about which quantum phenomena hinder quantum systems from experiencing the arrow of time. One example turned out to be the exchange of incompatible quantities between a quantum system and its environment. These incompatible quantities are quantum properties that, thanks to the uncertainty principle, cannot be simultaneously known.

For instance, researchers can check if the quantum spin of a particle is pointing up or down along any direction, but the spin along some other direction is an incompatible quantity. If a quantum system is exchanging spin with its environment along two incompatible directions, it hinders certain features of thermalization and impedes the system’s experience of time. Understanding more about which quantum phenomena interact with time’s arrow could have applications to error correction in quantum computing, which fights against the march of time and preserves quantum information by monitoring for and removing heat and disorder.

“We found some tensions in this, though,” says Yunger Halpern. “We found some ways that this exchange of incompatible quantities hinders some facets of thermalization, but also some ways that it enhances some facets. In the next three years, we hope to get a unified picture.”

The hub will use its next three years to refine the questions it has been asking, seeking to clarify the tensions that cropped up during the first three years. In addition to investigating how certain quantum phenomena impact the arrow of time, they will also consider new models of information exchange between quantum systems and their environments. They even plan to add an entirely new kind of question to the mix: How might the continuous fabric of space and time in Einstein’s general theory of relativity emerge from a microscopic network of discrete quantum systems?

Beyond research, the hub has also become a nexus for community building and outreach in the field, hosting an annual gathering to foster collaboration and innovation and organizing a short story contest in 2023. Part of the hub’s mission, Yunger Halpern says, is to share the adventure of quantum thermodynamics with the general public and inspire the next generation of quantum thermodynamicists.

The new funding will allow the hub to expand its team, adding new spokes. New team members will join from UMD, UMBC, and the University of Rochester, but the hope is that the growth won’t stop there.

“If anyone else would like to partner with us, we’d be happy to hear from them,” says Yunger Halpern.

Story by Chris Cesare

From Lab Bench to Launch Pad

Details: Category: Department News; Published: Monday, September 08 2025 01:40

When University of Maryland physics major Dhruv Agarwal first learned about phase change materials—substances that maintain stable temperatures in extreme conditions—in his freshman year, he never imagined the concept would eventually take him to the stars. Now a junior, Agarwal uses his expertise in the subject to lead a team of 20 undergraduates building technology that NASA might one day launch into orbit.

Dhruv Agarwal As a project lead for UMD’s Satellite Component Fabrication (SatFab) team, Agarwal oversees one of the most ambitious undergraduate student-led projects on campus: constructing a complete CubeSat from scratch. About the size of a small loaf of bread, SatFab’s mini satellite will house cutting-edge thermal management technology that could revolutionize how spacecraft handle the extreme temperatures of space.

“CubeSats are small satellites used to carry out Earth observation tasks, perform technology demonstrations or carry experimental payloads,” Agarwal explained. “Our team’s CubeSat is a 3U—meaning a 10-by-10-by-30-centimeter satellite—that will perform the latter two tasks. It’ll have a completely in-house GPS and a novel phase change material-based thermal control system that we designed. We’re hoping to launch our CubeSat through NASA’s CubeSat Initiative, which will send CubeSats to the International Space Station before releasing them into lower Earth orbit.”

Building tomorrow’s satellites today

Agarwal’s journey to satellite engineering wasn’t a straightforward one. Space technology wasn’t even on his radar until he was able to work on a phase change material experiment in 2023 with Aerospace Engineering Senior Lecturer Eric Silk, a faculty advisor for UMD’s Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) campus organization. For Agarwal, the opportunity—and a SEDS recruitment email—instantly kick-started his multiyear adventure with space tech.Phase change material experiment.

“I never had an interest in engineering or space, but I am interested in figuring out how things work, which is why I decided to pursue physics,” Agarwal said. “My experience of working with Dr. Silk and my team on the SatFab project ignited my passion for space tech. In turn, I had the chance to apply my knowledge of physics principles in a meaningful way.”

Working from the ground up, the SatFab team are designing and building every component of the CubeSat, including its exterior shell, communication system, custom-made GPS and novel thermal energy storage system. Agarwal led the team’s efforts in developing the thermal control system, which was designed to be simpler, less expensive and less energy-intensive than existing cooling mechanisms currently used in satellites.

“Phase change materials are substances that store and release large amounts of energy when they transition between different states, like ice melting into water,” Agarwal explained. “We developed a system that uses this principle to regulate satellite electronics temperatures.”

Agarwal noted that as phase change material on the CubeSat absorbs heat (like when the satellite is in sun-view) and transitions from solid to liquid, it maintains a steady temperature even as it stores excess energy. When temperatures drop (such as when the satellite is in Earth’s shadow), the material solidifies and releases the stored heat back to the satellite’s electronics. This special design allows electronics to be kept in their operating temperature range while minimizing fluctuation, thereby ensuring the satellite’s optimal performance and extending its longevity.

Developing a working prototype wasn’t easy, Agarwal admitted. With guidance from Silk, the SatFab group also had an overwhelming amount of freedom to architect their experiments despite initially not having the expertise or experience to do so. They learned on the job, designing and redesigning experiments and vigorously testing each component.

“By developing our systems in-house and making them open source, we hope that we’re laying the ground for future student projects,” he said. “It’s an ongoing project that everyone contributes to.”

Reaching new heights

The SatFab team is already working with partners like aerospace firm Amphenol CIT to ensure that the satellite meets professional reliability standards. Agarwal anticipates that the CubeSat’s components will soon be able to be tested via balloon payloads to simulate flight conditions.

This semester, Agarwal plans to draft his team’s NASA CubeSat proposal, write the final research manuscript for CubeSat’s thermal control system project, and prepare to present it at the 2026 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ SciTech Forum in January. He expects for the team’s CubeSat to launch in late 2027 or early 2028.

“Our work was recently accepted for presentation at SciTech, so I’m excited to enter the next phase of the project. We’ve made a lot of progress, but there’s still a lot more to be done,” Agarwal said. “We need more students with a passion for problem-solving on our team than ever, especially those with physics and engineering backgrounds.”

As a physics major, Agarwal never thought he’d lead a team of engineers or perform administrative tasks like budget or resource management but now sees the experience as invaluable and applicable to any lab or office. He hopes that other physics majors will look to explore less traditional paths as he did—and discover a new way to grow and achieve success.

“I’m incredibly thrilled at the prospect of our experiment possibly being launched into space, especially because we’re all undergraduate students,” he added. “The fact that my team’s work can culminate in something so fantastic and actually create a lasting contribution to space engineering is something I’ll always remember.”

Written by Georgia Jiang

Physicist Brings High Energy to UMD With Laser-Made Plasmas

Details: Category: Department News; Published: Wednesday, September 03 2025 01:40

Will Fox credits his early research experiences with introducing him to the power of plasma, a state of matter that could overhaul the energy sector and demystify astrophysical phenomena like cosmic rays and solar flares.

As an undergraduate researcher at Princeton University, Fox joined the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), a U.S. Department of Energy lab where he would later work for 11 years, including most recently as a principal research physicist. There, Fox played an integral role in developing experiments that used lasers to produce extremely hot and dense plasmas in the lab—no space telescope needed.Will Fox. Credit: Sarah Jane White

Fox was captivated by the many applications of this research, including the potential to unlock fusion as an alternative energy source and advance the scientific community’s understanding of plasma physics at a fundamental level.

“Research on laser-produced plasmas has been going on since the ’60s, and what’s exciting about these experiments is that they’ve come up with clever ways to measure what’s happening in the plasma produced,” Fox said. “In doing these experiments, you get to leverage all those developments that have happened over the years.”

In January 2025, Fox joined the University of Maryland as an assistant professor of physics. He’s refurbishing a lab in the Energy Research Facility, which will include a high-powered laser that allows him to produce plasmas on campus without needing to travel to other institutions. The lab will also feature a vacuum chamber and a control room, allowing researchers and collaborators from other institutions to work in a separate area from the laser.

“The physics department has an excellent group of faculty and a lot of expertise to help you set up a lab,” Fox, who holds a joint appointment in UMD’s Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, said of what attracted him to UMD.

Magnetically drawn

Despite being the most common state of matter in the universe, plasma is perhaps the least understood. Its free-flowing, negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions make it an efficient conductor of electricity. Its presence on Earth can be seen in lightning strikes, and in space, it contributes to processes such as magnetic reconnection (as seen in solar flares) and collisionless shocks (whose waves propel cosmic rays to nearly the speed of light).

Fox has devoted his career to studying these complex processes and sharing what he’s learned with students. After graduating from Princeton with a bachelor’s degree in physics in 2001, he took a gap year to seize a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: a math and physics teaching position at a high school in Nepal’s capital through the Princeton in Asia fellowship program. During his year in Kathmandu, Fox spent weekdays in the classroom and weekends in the Himalayas.

“I got into mountain biking and went on hikes,” Fox recalled fondly. “Just being immersed in the culture was exciting, and there was always something new or interesting going on in the city.”

When his fellowship ended, Fox enrolled in MIT’s physics Ph.D. program and focused on magnetic reconnection, a process that occurs in plasma and converts magnetic energy into kinetic energy. This concept is crucial for understanding Earth’s magnetized bubble of plasma, known as a magnetosphere; the aurora phenomena seen near Earth’s poles; and processes related to the sun, including coronal mass ejections and solar flares.

Magnetic reconnection can also cause problems when it occurs spontaneously in fusion devices used to generate energy. To better understand the phenomenon, Fox contributed to experiments that enabled magnetic reconnection to unfold in a controlled setting.

“Reconnection is one way the plasma can break out of the magnetic field that's trying to hold it in place,” Fox explained. “The idea is that by understanding how reconnection works, you can maybe design a better fusion device or understand what you have to do to keep things contained and in control.”

Finding purpose in plasma

After earning his Ph.D. in 2009, Fox spent two years as a research scientist at the University of New Hampshire’s Space Science Center, where he helped develop a program called the Plasma Simulation Code to see how plasma particles would interact with magnetic and electric fields in a virtual environment. Later, at PPPL, he used this same code to study how laser-produced plasmas might replicate astrophysical phenomena.

While Fox enjoyed this modeling work and found that it helps researchers design better experiments, he prefers producing actual plasmas in the lab.

“I still think of myself, ultimately, as an experimental physicist,” Fox said. “At the end of the day, I get excited about seeing a result and real data in a physical experiment.”

After Fox joined the PPPL as a physicist in 2013, he developed experiments with laser-produced plasmas that surpassed temperatures of 30 million degrees Fahrenheit. He also led the first experimental observations of the ion Weibel instability, a process that can spontaneously generate a magnetic field in plasma. Understanding this process can help researchers tackle one of the biggest unanswered questions in his field: how plasmas across the universe generate magnetic fields.

“When we look out at the cosmos, almost all of the plasma that's out there has a magnetic field,” Fox said. “You can look at the polarization of light that’s coming from a galaxy and see that there must be some large magnetic field embedded in the plasma. So overall, it's a question of, ‘Where did this magnetic field come from in the first place?’”

In later studies, Fox used plasma and a static magnetic field to generate collisionless shocks, which are comparable in some ways to the shockwaves that ripple off airplanes flying faster than the speed of sound. He also developed an improved method of measuring magnetic fields in plasma, resulting in a higher degree of accuracy.

In recognition of these discoveries, Fox received two awards from the American Physical Society: a 2019 Thomas H. Stix Award for Outstanding Early Career Contributions to Plasma Physics and a 2020 John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research.

Fox has published more than 80 research papers throughout his career and is gearing up for many more at UMD. Currently, he is using laser-produced plasmas to take a closer look at magnetic reconnection.

“We are colliding two plasmas with magnetic fields together and then using these techniques to measure how the plasma is behaving, where they're interacting and where the reconnection is happening,” Fox said.

Going forward, Fox plans to collaborate on experiments with Distinguished University Professor of Physics Howard Milchberg, whose lab is also located in the Energy Research Facility and is equipped with a short pulse laser.

“Our vision is that we'll have these cooperative experiments where the laser in my lab will produce the plasma state, and then we can take different types of probe measurements using the short pulse laser,” Fox said. “I’m looking forward to running more experiments and collaborating with the faculty and students here.”

Written by Emily Nunez

Srinivasan Named NIST Co-Director of JQI

Maryland Quantum-Thermodynamics Hub Secures Funding for Three More Years

From Lab Bench to Launch Pad

Physicist Brings High Energy to UMD With Laser-Made Plasmas

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