Photo Credit: Jeremiah Seo

Hi! I'm Boris.

Welcome to my website! I am a fourth-year graduate student working in the Hatlab, a quantum information laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh. For me, quantum computers are fascinating for two reasons. First, they would allow us to probe interesting physics questions, such as, "How does a complex molecule really behave?" and, "What is the fundamental nature of information?" Second, quantum computers don't yet exist, and building one is a huge engineering puzzle.

When I'm not in the lab, I like to play soccer, practice guitar, and explore the parks of Pittsburgh.

Education

University of Pittsburgh

August 2020 - Present

Physics PhD

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

August 2016 - May 2020

B.S. with Highest Honors, Physics and Mathematics

Experimental Quantum Information

Summer 2021 - Present

I currently work in the Hatlab, a superconducting quantum information group led by Dr. Michael Hatridge. My research activities currently focus on:

  • Improving the bandwidth, saturation power, and gain of quantum parametric amplifiers
  • Stabilizing the temperature of microwave electronics for qubit control and readout
  • Investigating new approaches for magnetometry using superconducting circuits

    • NV Center Data Pipeline

    Fall 2020 - Spring 2021

    I briefly worked in the lab of Dr. Gurudev Dutt at the University of Pittsburgh.

    • Developed an algorithm to automatically locate nitrogen-vacancy centers
    • Integrated an SQL database into a GUI application for managing microscopy data

    Earth's Field NMR

    Fall 2018 - Spring 2020

    I worked in Dr. Tamara's Branca's biomedical physics lab as an undergraduate. I am very grateful for my long-term project there, during which I developed many basic experimental skills.

    • Successfully replicated standard “free-induction decay” experiment, but using earth’s field and low-cost items
    • Designed several electronics boards in iterative process, improving performance and signal-noise ratio

      • Computational Analysis of Ultrafast Laser Damage on Metal Surfaces

      Summers 2018, 2019

      A long term computational project. The result was a simple but fast model of the Lorentz-Drude model of absorption in metals. I presented a poster for this work at the 7th International Conference on Attosecond Science and Technology in Szeged, Hungary.



Pic 01

Newton-Raphson Fractals

The familiar problem of algebraic-root finding can be solved with various algorithms. The convergence properties - i.e., how fast the algorithm gives you an answer - can exhibit strange patterns under the right conditions. I am interested in generating fractal images from such algorithms, which I think are a great example of beauty in mathematics. I also develop code to make the image generation easier (using a package called Sympy) and faster (by making GPU-compatible code).

Pic 02

Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability

As someone who always watches the turblent flows and eddies when I pour milk into coffee, I think fluid dynamics is an interesting physical problem because it is so easy to formulate (it requires no quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, or relativity) yet so hard to understand. A million dollars waits for the first person to solve Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness, for example. A far less ambitious goal is the simulation of a 2D fluid undergoing the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, a kind of turbulence that occurs when fluids shear.

Pic 02

Applets

I like writing code to help me understand physics. I host a few applets on this website that can run on any browser.

Pic 01

High-Alitude Balloon

Weather balloons are a surprisingly accessible way to send sensors, cameras, and experiments into the stratosphere. The extreme environment at 100,000 feet altitude features significant ambient radioactivity, near-vacuum pressure, and temperatures close to -100 degrees Fahrenheit.

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