JOINT SPECIAL COLLOQUIUM: New Degrees of Freedom for Quantum Hardware

JOINT SPECIAL COLLOQUIUM
College of Science, College of Engineering & Quantum Materials and Sensing Institute (QMSI)
New Degrees of Freedom for Quantum Hardware
Dr. Haoxin Zhou
University of California, Berkeley

Monday, Mar 30, 2026; 11:30am to 12:30p.m.
Hosts: Prof. Arun Bansil & Prof. Kin Chung Fong

Venue: Elliott Hall – Room 130C, 147 S. Bedford St, Burlington, MA
Remote: MS Teams Link
Abstract

Realizing the full potential of quantum information processing requires overcoming fundamental limitations in qubit coherence, connectivity, and scalability. One promising pathway is to harness new quantum degrees of freedom in emerging materials to build hybrid quantum hardware. Advances in condensed matter physics have revealed rich macroscopic quantum phenomena in solids, arising from collective dynamics of electrons and lattice vibrations. Harnessing these excitations opens new opportunities for storing, transmitting, and manipulating quantum information.

In this talk, I will explore how such phenomena emerge and how they can be integrated into quantum devices. I will first briefly illustrate how strong electronic interactions generate macroscopic quantum coherence, for example in graphene van der Waals heterostructures. I will then present recent work revealing interface-induced piezoelectric coupling in superconducting circuits, which introduces a new qubit decoherence channel while also enabling coherent coupling to acoustic phonons. Finally, I will outline future directions for hybrid quantum platforms integrating phonons and other collective excitations, and discuss how artificial intelligence may assist the control and optimization of these complex architectures.
Biography

Haoxin Zhou is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, working with Prof. Alp Sipahigil. His research lies at the intersection of circuit quantum electrodynamics and condensed matter physics, exploring hybrid quantum systems that couple superconducting qubits to acoustic phonons. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2021, where he worked with Prof. Andrea Young on correlated electronic phases in graphene Van der Waals heterostructures utilizing cryogenic electrical measurements. He received his B.S. in Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2015.