Andrew (Andy) Ferdinand Email & Phone Number

Boulder, Colorado, United States

Boulder, Colorado, United States

• Lead a project to develop a scalable integrated-photonics-based infrastructure for an optical lattice clock• Demonstrated dual stage cooling of strontium in MOTs based on metasurface optics to achieve μK temperatures and load an optical lattice• Developed and constructed a planar-optic-compatible experimental apparatus including: detailed analysis and CAD modeling of a science chamber with interdependent MOT components, UHV chamber, and a simplified collimated atom beam source… Show more • Lead a project to develop a scalable integrated-photonics-based infrastructure for an optical lattice clock• Demonstrated dual stage cooling of strontium in MOTs based on metasurface optics to achieve μK temperatures and load an optical lattice• Developed and constructed a planar-optic-compatible experimental apparatus including: detailed analysis and CAD modeling of a science chamber with interdependent MOT components, UHV chamber, and a simplified collimated atom beam source, experimental control with Artiq and NIST developed GUI, and electro-optical systems for detection and feedback of atoms and lasers• Implemented offset-phase frequency stabilization with servo feedback to diode and fiber lasers• Optimized and analyzed supercontinuum spectrum generated with integrated nonlinear tantalum pentoxide waveguide for laser locking• Validated experimental designs of metasurface optics and photonic-integrated-circuit-based beam geometries with Monte-Carlo simulations of laser cooled atomic trajectories• Data analysis and fitting with MATLAB, Origin, and Python Show less

Albuquerque, New Mexico

• Coordinated, managed, and lead laboratory activity of 25 students and Air Force Research Laboratory researchers for 6.7 million Agile Manufacturing multi-disciplinary research laboratory• Supervised research efforts in robotics and machine learning for nine students and interns with education levels ranging from high school to Ph.D.• Lead laboratory renovations, maintenance, and updates• Lead industry showcases, collaborator recruitment tours, and outreach

Albuquerque, New Mexico

• Developed experiment to study four-wave mixing (FWM) in an atomic ensemble for quantum communication and quantum memories• Designed and constructed experimental apparatus including: elongated cold atomic ensemble with custom 2D-MOT coils, UHV chamber, lasers frequency stabilization, custom monolithic tunable optical filters, and electro-optical systems for measurements of biphotons, atom ensemble, and laser properties.• Constructed saturated spectroscopy infrastructure and stabilized… Show more • Developed experiment to study four-wave mixing (FWM) in an atomic ensemble for quantum communication and quantum memories• Designed and constructed experimental apparatus including: elongated cold atomic ensemble with custom 2D-MOT coils, UHV chamber, lasers frequency stabilization, custom monolithic tunable optical filters, and electro-optical systems for measurements of biphotons, atom ensemble, and laser properties.• Constructed saturated spectroscopy infrastructure and stabilized laser frequencies with servo feedback• Developed measurement scheme with APDs in Geiger mode and FPGA control to study high-resolution time correlations of biphotons generated with four-wave-mixing • Performed analytic and numerical calculation of a four-wave mixing process to analyze the spatial correlation and high-dimensional entanglement of generated biphotons• Collaborated on an experiment performing a novel adaptive measurement technique allowing for the discrimination between optical coherent states below the quantum noise limitDissertation title: "Studies of Light Generation with Four-Wave Mixing in a Cold Atomic Ensemble" Show less

Albuquerque, New Mexico Area

• Collaborated on an experiment developing novel adiabatic quantum gates based on dressed Rydberg excitations • Designed and constructed a quantum sensing experiment to probe surface properties of materials using Rydberg EIT with a launchable MOT and a unique rotatable UHV chamber to improve material testing throughput • Designed and constructed an experiment comprised of a MOT, UHV chamber, and single atom dipole trap to characterize custom diffractive optical elements

• Constructed and baked-out UHV chamber for a MOT• Built saturated spectroscopy laser frequency reference infrastructure• Aligned and tuned an ECDL to an atomic transition and built saturated spectroscopy infrastructure

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Physics

Experimental quantum optics, primarily with ultra-cold atoms, with applications in quantum information.

B.S., Physics, Minor In Mathematics; Magna Cum Laude