Christopher Roy Monroe (born October 19, 1965) is an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

in the areas of atomic, molecular, and optical physics and

quantum information science Quantum information science is an interdisciplinary field that seeks to understand the analysis, processing, and transmission of information using quantum mechanics principles. It combines the study of Information science with quantum effects in ...

, especially quantum computing. He directs one of the leading research and development efforts in ion trap quantum computing. Monroe is the Gilhuly Family Presidential Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at Duke University and is College Park Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland and Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Computer Science. He is also co-founder and Chief Scientist at

IonQ IonQ is a quantum computing hardware and software company based in College Park, Maryland. They are developing a general-purpose trapped ion quantum computer and software to generate, optimize, and execute quantum circuits. History IonQ was co-f ...

, Inc.

Career

After receiving his undergraduate degree from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

in 1987, Monroe joined Carl Wieman's research group at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

in the early days of laser cooling and trapping of atoms. With Wieman and postdoctoral researcher

Eric Cornell Eric Allin Cornell (born December 19, 1961) is an American physicist who, along with Carl E. Wieman, was able to synthesize the first Bose–Einstein condensate in 1995. For their efforts, Cornell, Wieman, and Wolfgang Ketterle shared the Nobel ...

, Monroe contributed to the path for cooling a gas of atoms to the Bose-Einstein condensation phase transition. He obtained his PhD under Wieman in 1992 (Wieman and Cornell succeeded in the quest in 1995, and were awarded the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

for this work in 2001). From 1992 to 2000, Monroe worked in the Ion Storage Group of

David Wineland David Jeffrey Wineland (born February 24, 1944) is an American Nobel-laureate physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) physics laboratory. His work has included advances in optics, specifically laser-cooling trap ...

at the

National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical s ...

in Boulder, CO, where he was awarded a

National Research Council National Research Council may refer to: * National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development * National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome * National Research Council (United States), part of ...

postdoctoral fellowship from 1992-1994, and held a staff position in the same group from 1994-2000. With Wineland, Monroe led the research team that demonstrated the first quantum logic gate in 1995 and for the first time entangled multiple

qubits In quantum computing, a qubit () or quantum bit is a basic unit of quantum information—the quantum version of the classic binary bit physically realized with a two-state device. A qubit is a two-state (or two-level) quantum-mechanical system, ...

, and exploited the use of trapped atomic ions for applications in quantum control and the new field of

. In 2000, Monroe initiated a research group at the

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, where he showed how qubit memories could be linked to single photons for quantum networking. There he also demonstrated the first ion trap integrated on a

semiconductor chip An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...

. With Wineland, Monroe proposed a scalable quantum computer architecture based on shuttling atomic ions through complex ion trap chips. In 2006, Monroe became Director of the FOCUS Center at the University of Michigan, a NSF Physics Frontier Center in the area of ultrafast optical science. In 2007, Monroe became the Bice Zorn Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland and a Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute between the University of Maryland and the

(NIST). There, Monroe's group produced quantum entanglement between two widely separated atoms, and were the first to teleport quantum information between matter separated over distance. They exploited this resource for a number of quantum communication protocols and for a new hybrid memory/photon quantum computer architecture. In recent years, his group pioneered the use of individual atoms as a

quantum simulator Quantum simulators permit the study of a quantum system in a programmable fashion. In this instance, simulators are special purpose devices designed to provide insight about specific physics problems. Note: This manuscript is a contribution ...

, or a special purpose quantum computer that can probe complex many-body quantum phenomena such as frustration and magnetic ordering. His laboratory controls and manipulates the largest collection of individual interacting qubits. In 2015, Monroe co-founded the startup

, Inc. with Jungsang Kim (Duke University), and serves as Chief Scientist. From Aug 2018 to May 2019 he served as CEO. IonQ manufactures full stack quantum computers based on trapped atomic ion technology. In 2016 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences..

References

External links

Duke Quantum Center

Duke University Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

Duke University Physics Department

University of Maryland Ion Trap Group

Joint Quantum Institute

University of Maryland Department of Physics

IONQ
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monroe, Christopher 1965 births Living people Quantum physicists Optical physicists 21st-century American physicists University of Maryland, College Park faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni University of Colorado alumni Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the Institute of Physics Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences University of Michigan faculty Quantum information scientists