Katarina Cicak

Staff Employment

2018 – present, Physicist in Advanced Microwave Photonics Group, NIST, Boulder CO
2007-2018, Physicist/Device Fabrication Specialist, NIST, Boulder CO (as an associate through Protiro, Inc.)
2004-2007 Postdoctoral Researcher in Quantum Devices Group, NIST, Boulder CO
1997-2004 Graduate Research Assistant, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
1996-1997 Space Shuttle and Sounding Rocket Payload Scientist, University of Southern California, Los Angeles CA (with field work at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD, and White Sands Missile Range, NM)

Katarina Cicak is a research scientist in the Applied Physics Division at NIST Boulder. She received a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University. Her expertise is in innovation, nanofabrication, and integration of quantum superconducting devices, including qubits, quantum-efficient amplifiers and optomechanical devices. She joined NIST in 2004.

Awards

2022: U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal for “…work (that) experimentally tested the physical size limits at which quantum mechanics ends and classical physics begins.”
2021: Physics World: Breakthrough of the Year for "...entangling two macroscopic vibrating drumheads, thereby advancing our understanding of the divide between quantum and classical systems."
2020: NIST Technology Partnership Office Patent of the Month for “Reticulated resonator, process for making and use of same”.
2018: PML Distinguished Associate Award related to the U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal Award for "creating the fundamental, enabling components of future quantum networks ...".

Publications

Versatile parametric coupling between two statically decoupled transmon qubits

May 4, 2023

Author(s)

Xiaoyue Jin, Zachary Parrott, SHLOMI KOTLER, Katarina Cicak, Florent Lecocq, John Teufel, Joe Aumentado, Raymond Simmonds

Parametric coupling is a powerful technique for generating tunable interactions between superconducting circuits using only microwave tones. Here, we present a

Contactless Excitation of Acoustic Resonance in Thin Wafers

October 4, 2022

Author(s)

Gan Zhai, Yizhou Xin, Cameron Kopas, Ella Lachman, Mark Field, Josh Y Mutus, Katarina Cicak, Joe Aumentado, Zuhawn Sung, William Halperin

Contactless excitation and detection of high harmonic acoustic overtones in a thin single crystal are described using radio frequency spectroscopy techniques

Control and readout of a superconducting qubit using a photonic link

March 24, 2021

Author(s)

Florent Lecocq, Franklyn Quinlan, Katarina Cicak, Joe Aumentado, Scott Diddams, John Teufel

Delivering on the revolutionary promise of a universal quantum computer will require processors with millions of quantum bits (qubits). In superconducting

Demonstration of efficient nonreciprocity in a microwave optomechanical circuit

July 6, 2017

Author(s)

Gabriel A. Peterson, Florent Q. Lecocq, Katarina Cicak, Raymond W. Simmonds, Jose A. Aumentado, John D. Teufel

Abstract The ability to engineer nonreciprocal interactions is an essential tool in modern communication technology as well as a powerful resource for building

Field Programmable Josephson Amplifier for non-reciprocal microwave signal processing

February 17, 2017

Author(s)

Florent Q. Lecocq, Leonardo Ranzani, Gabriel A. Peterson, Katarina Cicak, Raymond W. Simmonds, John D. Teufel, Jose A. Aumentado

We report on the design and implementation of a Field Programmable Josephson Amplifier (FPJA) - a compact and lossless superconducting circuit that can be

View more Publications

Patents (2018-Present)

A line drawing showing the entire structure, which includes the resonator and supporting substrate.

Reticulated Resonator, Process for Making and Use of Same

NIST Inventors

Raymond Simmonds , Katarina Cicak , Cindy Regal and Thomas Purdy

A reticulated resonator includes: a reticulated substrate that includes: a substrate frame; and a phononic structure in mechanical communication with the substrate frame and including a plurality of unit members arranged in a two-dimensional array; and a membrane disposed on the reticulated

View All Patents

Staff Employment

2018 – present, Physicist in Advanced Microwave Photonics Group, NIST, Boulder CO
2007-2018, Physicist/Device Fabrication Specialist, NIST, Boulder CO (as an associate through Protiro, Inc.)
2004-2007 Postdoctoral Researcher in Quantum Devices Group, NIST, Boulder CO
1997-2004 Graduate Research Assistant, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
1996-1997 Space Shuttle and Sounding Rocket Payload Scientist, University of Southern California, Los Angeles CA (with field work at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD, and White Sands Missile Range, NM)

Katarina Cicak (Fed)

Physicist

Awards

Publications

Patents (2018-Present)