ORNL's Chris Seck
Chris Seck studies surface-ion-trap-based quantum information science and quantum computing. In this role, Chris acts as technical lead of ion trapping experiments in spectroscopy, precision measurement, quantum information, and quantum computing as well as optical clock/gate laser development.
Substantial institutional investments in equipment and facilities, as well as recent increases in federal funding from the Department of Energy and other agencies, have positioned Chris and his colleagues for rapid growth and success.
Chris joined ORNL in January 2020 from his prior role as a Research Scientist II at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). He earned his Ph.D. in Physics from Northwestern University under the supervision of Dr. Brian Odom in 2016.
In his spare time, Chris enjoys being social over a local brew, board and video gaming, playing recreational ice hockey, riding his motorcycle, and avoiding cones on an autocross course.
“The current-era Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) hardware, too noisy to robustly run lengthy digital quantum computations, can capably run meaningful analog quantum simulations—i.e. using a quantum device to simulate a quantum system that is a challenge to otherwise simulate using classical computing resources," said Seck. "By leveraging the current-state NISQ hardware capabilities, we can simulate novel quantum materials and develop new error mitigation strategies, both of which will improve future (beyond-)NISQ hardware capabilities."
ORNL’s quantum research is supported by DOE’s Office of Science. For more information on ORNL’s quantum research portfolio, visit https://www.qscience.org/.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. DOE’s Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.
