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Jan Kycia

Professor, Physics and Astronomy

Research interests: nanoscale devices; single electron transistors

Biography

Professor Jan Kycia received a BSc in Physics from McGill University in 1989. In 1991 he completed a MSc in Physics at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1997, he graduated from Northwestern University with a PhD in Physics.

Kycia was awarded the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Postdoctoral Fellowship in 1998, the Research Corporation’s Research Innovation Award (for novel Transition Edge Sensor (TES) detector) in 2001 and the Ontario Early Research Award, (applied superconducting devices) in 2007.

Education

Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of California at Berkeley, 1998-2000
PhD, Physics, Northwestern University, 1997
MSc, Physics University of Pennsylvania, 1991
BSc, Physics, McGill University, 1989

Jan Kycia

Research

Jan Kycia’s group works on the experimental investigation of quantum mechanical properties of sub-micron and micron scaled superconducting devices. In particular Superconducting Single Electron Transistors (S-SETs) and Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs). Attention is focused on gaining a better understanding of how dissipation and the environment affect the states of the devices. The group is also studying the 1/f noise in Josephson junctions. This 1/f noise may be an intrinsic limitation to the coherence time of superconducting devices for quantum computation.

The group is also studying numerous condensed matter systems including magnetic materials and heavy fermion superconductors. Specifically, we have focused on disordered and geometrically frustrated magnetic systems which may manifest exotic ground states such as spin glasses, spin ice and spin liquids. Our main characterization techniques are specific heat measurements and SQUID based magnetization and ac susceptibility.

Research Interests

Disordered magnetic materials
Geometric frustration
Critical current fluctuations
Transition edge sensors
Superconducting single electron transistor

Publications

Recent publications include:

Evidence of Impurity and Boundary Effects on Magnetic Monopole Dynamics in Spin Ice. H.M. Revell, L.R. Yaraskavitch, J.D. Mason, K.A. Ross, H.M.L Noad, H.A. Dabkowska, B.D. Gaulin, P. Henelius and J.B. Kycia, Nature Physics, 85 (2012).
Low Temperature Specific Heat Measurements of Frustrated Magnetic Materials. D. Pomaranski and J.B. Kycia, Physics in Canada, 68, Issue 2, 99-102 (2012).
Evidence of Spin Glass Dynamics in Dilute LiHo_xY_1-xF₄J. A. Quilliam, S. Meng, C. G. A. Mugford, and J. B. KyciaPhys. Rev. Lett. 101, Issue 18, 187204 (2008).
Specific Heat of the Dilute Ising Magnet LiHo_xY_1-xF₄J. A. Quilliam, C. G. A. Mugford, A. Gomez, S. W. Kycia and J. B. KyciaPhys. Rev. Lett. 98, Issue 3, 037203 (2007).
Electrical and optical measurements on the first SCUBA-2 prototype 1280 pixel submillimeter superconducting bolometer array. Woodcraft Adam L., Ade Peter A. R., Bintley Dan, House Julian S., Hunt Cynthia L., Sudiwala Rashmi V., Doriese William B., Duncan William D., Hilton Gene C., Irwin Kent D., Reintsema Carl D., Ullom, Joel N., Audley, Michael D., Ellis Maureen A., Holland Wayne S., Macintosh Mike, Dunare Camelia C., Parkes William, Walton Anthony J., Kycia Jan B., Halpern Mark, Schulte EricRev. Sci. Instrum. 78, Issue 2, 024502 (2007).
Evidence for Gapped Spin-Wave Excitations in the Frustrated Gd₂Sn₂O₇ Pyrochlore Antiferromagnet from Low-Temperature Specific Heat Measurements.J. A. Quilliam, K. A. Ross, A. G. Del Maestro, M. J. P. Gingras, L. R. Corruccini and J. B. KyciaPhys. Rev. Lett. 76, Issue 99, 097201 (2007).
mu SR study of the “anti-glass” LiHo0.045Y0.955F4. Rodriguez J, Dunsiger SR, Kycia JB, MacDougall GJ, Quilliam JA, Russo PL, Savici AT, Uemura YJ, Wiebe CR, Luke GMPHYSICA B 374, 13 (2006).
Specific Heat and AC Susceptibility of LiHo_xY_1-xF₄J. A. Quilliam, C. G. A. Mugford, L. Lettress and J. B. KyciaPhysics in Canada 61, Issue 4 (2005).
Cryogenic direct current superconducting quantum interference device readout circuit. Michael Mck, Matthias Korn, C. G. A. Mugford, and J. B. KyciaRev. Sci. Instrum. 76, 074701 (2005).
Measurements of 1/f Noise in Josephson Junctions at Zero Voltage: Implications for Decoherance in Superconducting Quantum Bits. Michael Mck, Matthias Korn, C.G.A. Mugford, J.B. Kycia, John ClarkeAppl. Phys. Lett. 86, 012510 (2005).
A Simple Three-Channel DC SQUID System Using Time Domain Multiplexing. M. Mck, M. Korn, C. G. A Mugford, and J. B. KyciaPhys. Rev. Lett. 75, 2660 (2004).
SCUBA-2 arrays to system interfaces. Duncan W, Audley D, Holland W, Atkinson D, Baillie T, Cliffe M, Ellis M, Gao X, Gostick D, Hodson T, Kelly D, MacIntosh M, McGregor H, Peacocke T, Smith I, Robson I, Walton A, Parkes W, Dunare C, Smith S, Terry J, Stevenson T, Gundlach A, Ruthven A, Ade P, Tucker C, Gannaway F, Walker I, Sudiwala R, Woodcraft A, Griffin M, Bintley D, Schulte E, Fich M, Kycia J, Halpern M, Molnar J, Burger B, Naylor D, Bastien P, Mitchell G, Irwin K, Hilton G, Ullom J, Reintsema C, Vale L, Ferreira L, Doriese WNucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 520, 427 (2004).
Low field DC SQUID nuclear magnetic resonance on single crystal UPt₃R. Korber, A. Casey, B.P. Cowan, M.E. Digby, J. Li, J. Luo, C.P. Lusher, J. Saunders, D. Drung, T. Schurig, J.B. Kycia, J.I. Hong, D.N. Seidman, W.P. HalperinPhysica C, 388, 523 (2003).
Effects of dissipation on a superconducting single electron transistor. J.B. Kycia, J. Chen, R. Therrien, C. Kurdak, J. Clarke, K.I. Campman, and A.C. GossardPhys. Rev. Lett. 87, 017002 (2001).
Superconducting quantum interference device as a near-quantum limited amplifier at 0.5 GHz. Michael Mck, J.B. Kycia, John ClarkeAppl. Phys. Lett. 78, 967-969 (2001).
Anisotropic dc magnetiztion of superconducting UPt₃ and antiferromagnetic ordering below 20mKS. Schottl, E.A. Schuberth, K. Flachbart, J.B. Kycia, J.I. Hong, D.N. Seidman, W.P. HalperinPhys. Rev. Lett. 82, 2378-2381 (1999).
Suppression of Superconductivity in UPt₃ Single Crystals. J.B. Kycia, J.I. Hong, M.J. Graf, J.A. Sauls, D.N. Seidman, W.P. Halperin Phys. Rev. B 58, 603-606 (1998).
Effect of Magnetic Scattering on the 3He Superfluid State in Aerogel. D.T. Sprague, T.M. Haard, J.B. Kycia, M.R. Rand, Y. Lee, P.J. Hamot, and W.P. HalperinPhys. Rev. Lett. 77, 4568-4571 (1996).
Nonlinear Spin Dynamics and Magnetic Field Distortion of the Superfluid 3He-B Order Parameter. M.R. Rand, D.T. Sprague, T.M. Haard, J.B. Kycia, H.H. Hensley, Y. Lee, P.J. Hamot, D.M. Marks, W.P. Halperin, T. Mizusaki, and T. OhmiPhys. Rev. Lett. 77, 1314-1317 (1996).
Homogeneous Equal-Spin Pairing Superfluid State of 3He in Aerogel. D.T. Sprague, T.M. Haard, J.B. Kycia, M.R. Rand, Y.Lee, P.J. Hamot,and W.P. HalperinPhys. Rev. Lett 75, 661-664 (1995).
High Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance of Superfluid 3He-B. J.B. Kycia, T.M. Haard, M.R. Rand, H.H. Hensley, G.F. Moores, Y.Lee, P.J. Hamot, D.T. Sprague, W.P. Halperin and E.V. ThunebergPhys. Rev. Lett. 72 864-867 (1994).
High Resolution Measurements of the Larmor Frequency in Normal-liquid 3He. T.M. Haard, J.B. Kycia, M.R. Rand, H.H. Hensley, Y. Lee, P.J. Hamot, D.T. Sprague and W.P. HalperinPhys. Rev. Lett. 72 860-863 (1994).