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Katarina Cicak (Fed)

Physicist

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

Contactless Excitation of Acoustic Resonance in Thin Wafers

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

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
Created October 9, 2019, Updated August 3, 2023