Matt Eichenfield named inaugural Karl Gustafson Endowed Chair of Quantum Engineering
Award-winning physicistMatt Eichenfield has been named the inaugural Karl Gustafson Endowed Chair of Quantum Engineering in theDepartment of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering at CU Boulder.
A recognized leader in ultra-scalable photonics, nano-optomechanics and phononics, Eichenfield’s career spans academia and government. He is dedicated to advancing the frontiers of quantum science and technology, as well as classical optical and RF systems.
“CU Boulder is where you can assemble a team of the world’s leading experts across physics, engineering and beyond to go after really audacious goals in quantum,” Eichenfield said. “The quantum ecosystem at CU Boulder and Colorado is unmatched, and I’m excited to collaborate with researchers and companies who are already leading the way in quantum technologies that will impact the world.”
The endowed chair honors the career of Professor Emeritus Karl Gustafson, whose belief in multidisciplinary research anticipated the kinds of breakthroughs that now define quantum engineering.
“The Karl Gustafson Endowed Chair represents both a legacy and a vision to tackle the world’s most complex challenges,” said Keith Molenaar, dean of theCollege of Engineering and Applied Science. “Matt Eichenfield is an extraordinary scholar and mentor who will further strengthen our leadership in quantum engineering, and we are thrilled to welcome him to CU Engineering.”
Eichenfield most recently worked at the University of Arizona’s Wyant College of Optical Sciences, where he held the International Society for Optics and Photonics Endowed Chair and was the co-director of the Center for Quantum Networks— a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center.
He holds a joint appointment at Sandia National Laboratories, recognizing his research and leadership at a federal lab whose mission includes state-of-the-art solutions for national security. At Sandia, he founded and led the Micro Electro Mechanical Systems–Enabled Quantum Systems group, pioneering approaches that combine advanced micro- and nano-fabrication with quantum engineering. His work has enabled devices that push the boundaries of both classical and quantum technologies.
This perspective, working within national lab facilities while mentoring students, remains central to his vision for CU Boulder.
“My experience in fabricating myriad nanotechnologies for classical and quantum applications gives me a unique perspective on how to engineer leading quantum systems,” he said. “I’m excited to share this with undergraduate and graduate students, teaching them how to build quantum devices and preparing them to go into the quantum industry.”
Quantum Nanophoxonics Laboratory led by Eichenfield.
Shaping the next generation of quantum scientists
Eichenfield emphasizes giving students access to the real-world challenges and partnerships that define the fast-growing quantum sector.
“Coming to CU Boulder means you’ll get to work with world-class faculty, along with companies revolutionizing quantum computing,” Eichenfield said. “My research group also gets to work alongside Sandia scientists who are pursuing quantum solutions vital to the U.S. economy and national security.”
His advice to students is simple but bold: Seek out the hardest problems.
“You should work on the most challenging engineering or scientific challenges you can find,” he said. “Those are the most exciting and rewarding problems to tackle and because of that they draw the best and the brightest who have to leverage the very limits of science and engineering to solve those problems. There’s no more difficult and exciting field right now than quantum computing and quantum sensing.”
A career shaped by discovery
Eichenfield’s path into physics and quantum engineering began in high school, where an inspiring physics teacher sparked his interest in science. As an undergraduate at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, he immersed himself in laboratory work, eventually joining the project at the California Institute of Technology as a summer and then year-round intern.
He stayed on at Caltech for graduate school in physics, where he studied nanoscale photonic and phononic systems. His work centered on building devices sensitive enough to detect the tiniest possible vibrations allowed by quantum mechanics.
He explains the concept with a tuning fork analogy: Strike it and you hear vibrations. Strike it softer and softer and eventually the sound disappears. But quantum mechanics tells us that even when no energy is added, a tiny motion still remains— quantum ground-state fluctuations.
“The devices I built for my PhD were the first that could actually detect those ground-state fluctuations,” Eichenfield said. “It was both my intro to quantum science and a lesson in how engineering at the nanoscale can reveal phenomena that nothing else has ever been able to observe.”
After completing his PhD, he became the first Kavli Nanoscience Prize Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech before joining Sandia as a Harry S. Truman Fellow.
Eichenfield— who holds 22 patents— continues to build on research and innovation. His group is developing piezoelectric optomechanical photonic circuits for quantum computers that use ions and neutral atoms as qubits, as well as novel infrared detectors with applications in spectroscopy, imaging and sensing.
Quantum’s global future
CU Boulder is leading a first-of-its-kindNational Quantum Nanofab (NQN) facility that will provide researchers from universities, government and industry with the tools to fabricate and test innovative quantum devices. Eichenfield hopes to forge those collaborations through the NQN.
"Our legacy in scientific leadership has driven global progress in quantum science for decades,” said Massimo Ruzzene, senior vice chancellor for research and innovation. “With initiatives like our CUbit Quantum Initiative and the Colorado Quantum Incubator, CU Boulder is at the forefront of the development of quantum technologies, through the advances of our own faculty, as well as increased collaboration with the regional and national quantum communities. The promise of quantum technologies is going to be realized in the foreseeable future."
Eichenfield points to the so-called traveling salesman problem and other optimization problems, such as airline scheduling, global shipping logistics and supply chain management, that quantum computers could solve exponentially faster than classical computers. Quantum computing also can innovate new drug discovery, enabling researchers to simulate molecular interactions at a level of complexity that classical computers cannot achieve.
“Quantum computing will impact the lives of everyone on the planet in ways we can’t even imagine yet,” Eichenfield said. “Society has a lot to gain, and CU Boulder is at the forefront of making that future possible.”