Thomas Kilmer

Thomas Kilmer grew up in Boulder, Colorado and knew from a young age that he wanted to study physics. He had the good fortune to have plenty of encouraging role models in that field, and ended up studying physics as an undergraduate at RIT in Rochester, New York. There he met Dr. Mishkat Bhattacharya and Dr. Ed Hach, who introduced him to the world of quantum optics and helped him kindle an interest in the field. Since then he has found his way to the University of Arizona. He graduated with his Master’s Degree in 2021.

Research:

Keywords: Quantum Communication, Photonic Quantum Computing

Bell state measurements are a class of destructive entangling operations of particular interest to discrete variable quantum computing and communication. Using linear optics to perform Bell state measurements succeeds probabilistically, which is a major limitation of quantum linear optics. Analyzing how linear optical Bell state measurements may be improved is an ongoing project for me.

Cat states (named after the eponymous Schrodinger’s cat) and GKP states are part of a class of ‘magic’ states which, if one could produce a ready supply of them, would enable relatively straightforward fault-tolerant quantum computing and are highly desirable for quantum communication. I am currently investigating a method by which such states might be produced with existing materials.