In May 2025, we congratulates Drs. John Simonaitis and Dr. Owen Medeiros on their thesis defenses!
Owen Medeiros successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled “Superconducting Nanowire Integrated Circuits for Scalable Cryogenic Memory” on May 13, 2025.
The talk was recorded and can be found here.
Abstract:
Superconducting nanowire integrated circuits (SNICs) are a promising class of cryogenic electronics that harness the zero resistance, high kinetic inductance, and nanoscale geometry of ultrathin superconducting wires to implement logic, memory, amplification, and sensing with minimal energy dissipation. Unlike Josephson-junction-based circuits, SNICs support compact, planar layouts compatible with single-layer fabrication and operation in unshielded cryogenic environments.
This thesis develops superconducting nanowire memory (SNM) as a scalable implementation of SNICs. A modular cell architecture is introduced, exploiting hysteretic switching and inductive asymmetry to enable nonvolatile digital state storage with zero static power consumption. A hierarchical design framework is established, combining automated layout generation, electrothermal simulation in LTspice, and microscopic modeling using the time-dependent Ginzburg–Landau (TDGL) formalism.
John Simonaitis successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled “Low-energy Electron-Photon Interactions in a Scanning Electron Microscope” on May 12, 2025.
Abstract:
The interaction of free-electrons with matter and light is among the most fundamental of processes in nature. From the use of free-electrons for atomic imaging, to their use in the generation of high-intensity, tunable light in synchrotrons, the physics of unconfined electrons has wide application. In recent years, there has been a new focus on looking more closely at the quantum nature of individual electrons in electron microscopes to enable further improvements in these technologies. This work takes advantage of developments in ultrafast optics, electron spectroscopy, quantum optics, and nanofabrication to explore various electron-electron, electron-photon, and electron-material interactions. In this thesis, we construct a low-energy, ultrafast scanning electron microscope, using it to explore quantum coherent interactions between electrons, light, and matter.
