A winning start in quantum innovation

From left to right: Philip Szymborski, Prithvi Singh, Arjun Mahes, Keegan Mark and Professor Ting Tsui

Congratulations to a team of first-year Nanotechnology Engineering (NE) students who took first place at the HardHaQ Quantum Hardware Hackathon! The event was open to undergraduate teams from across North America.  

Focused on hardware, the competition offers students an opportunity to gain experience with tools and systems driving quantum technologies.

Teammates Philip Szymborski, Arjun Mahes, Prithvi Singh and Keegan Mark were excited to have the opportunity to work in the quantum space. Mark learned about the competition through Quantum Club and invited his friends to join.

The challenge in the competition was to optimize ion traps through computer simulations and geometric modelling, and they only had a week to do it!

Engineering better ion traps

Ion traps operate using electrical and radio-frequency (RF) fields to create an “invisible bowl” that holds charged ions in place. The traps are critical for quantum computers because they stabilize the ions and act as qubits, the fundamental units that store quantum information.

“We built detailed computer models to test and improve two kinds of ion traps: 3D RF Paul Traps and Surface Ion RF Traps. We looked at how the shapes of the electrodes and the RF/DC voltages affect how strongly the trap holds ions and how stable the ions are. This helped us find designs that perform better on quantum computers,” says Szymborski.

Using a software program called COMSOL Multiphysics, the team developed two validated simulations for ion confinement systems. The team also built a python interface to automatically plug in different parameters (voltage, dimensions, etc.) and then would read the outputs and find the optimal parameters for the trap.

 Instead of delivering the standard slide presentation for the competition, they went above and beyond to create a website that can be installed as an Android app.  

The team named themselves “Ting’s Quantum Engineers” after one of their NE professors, Ting Tsui.  The students enjoyed the course Tsui taught and felt that he made the course material easy to understand.

“Professor Tsui taught us an introductory course and the concepts that we are learning in his class are about NE applications and how things are perceived in nano. So, we chose to use his name because of what he is teaching and imparting to us,” says Mark.

Where NE meets quantum computing

This competition was a natural fit for the students as NE enables quantum computing by providing the tools to fabricate nanoscale materials and devices, including nanowires and quantum dots needed to build and control qubits.

The experience bonded the first-year students. "We didn't really know each other before this, but then through the process of working together, sometimes for 11 hours straight, I think we think we've become really good friends," says Singh.

All four students were attracted to the NE program to be on the leading edge of innovation.

“Nanotechnology is a field with applications in so many sectors like semiconductors, medical devices, and more. I first learned about quantum and nanotechnology in IQC's QSYS (quantum school for young students). We learned about quantum photonics and cryptography, which sparked my interest in NE,” says Mahes.

Kudos to Ting’s Quantum Engineers for their drive, confidence, and ingenuity to compete against teams from across North America and take home first place!