Richard Bounds

Richard completed his PhD at the University of Southampton, in the area of cryogenic nuclear magnetic resonance and superconductivity, specifically studying the physics of type-II superconductors. His PhD group also developed RF pulse sequences for control of ensemble nuclear spin-systems. This combination allowed Rich to develop experience in both low temperature experimental physics, as well as optimising the control of qubit-like nuclear spin systems through recoupling/decoupling methodologies. He also designed and tested new pulse sequences for the control of these qubit-like systems for optimal signal intensity.

He then went onto a postdoc at UC Berkeley, working on methodologies for nuclear spin hyperpolarisation. During this time he gained skills in instrument control and anticrossing physics between nuclear and electron spins. His postdoc in Berkeley included engineering of RF transmission lines and significant amounts of RF pulse engineering using AWGs. During this time he also worked on his own python framework to simulate the quantum mechanics of nuclear-electron spin interactions.

Then slightly shifting fields, he did another postdoc at the University of Cologne in the area of cQED on topological insulators towards Majorana quantum computing. Rich began at the start of a new venture into cQED in this lab, so had significant exposure to RF engineering for Transmon qubits from the ground up. He also worked heavily on design, simulation, fabrication and measurement of various iterations of superconducting CPW resonators. This included DC/RF hybrid devices as well as high magnetic field compatible designs. Throughout this experience he developed his own python package for mask generation of superconducting CPW designs with Andreev qubits.