UMass⁺ Trapped Ions and Photonics (Niffenegger Lab)

Our competitive Research Intensives program places high-achieving high school students in professional working labs alongside distinguished faculty, graduate and undergraduate students.

Research Intensive in the UMass⁺ Trapped Ions and Photonics Lab (Niffenegger Lab)

The UMass⁺ Ion lab microfabricates chips in the UMass cleanrooms for trapped ion quantum computing. We then trap ions on our chips and study their performance as qubits by measuring their qubit gate fidelity towards building a scalable quantum computer.

Possible projects could be software or hardware: software development for qubit control, coding simulation of new types of ion traps, 3D printing parts for mounting optics to control lasers sent to the qubits and many different electronics projects like building amplifiers, locking electronics with PID feedback and more. Learn more

The Niffenegger lab can host 4 students.

Program Overview

During this program, high school students will assist UMass faculty and graduate students in research labs while learning about research methodologies and contributing to ongoing research studies. Each student will create and present a research poster to faculty, fellow students, friends and family at a poster session at the end of the program.

Students will come away with an introduction to the field of Biochemistry, firsthand experience with university-level research, and an understanding of opportunities that exist for undergraduate students at a major R1 university such as UMass Amherst.

Applications

For all Research Intensives applications: In your statement of interest, please include 3 lab choices from our list of available labs along with a brief explanation of your interest in each one.