Ahead of her senior year, WIU Physics student Chelsie Hadley spent the past summer contributing to research in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, IL.
“Getting that perspective made me even more excited for grad school, because now I know what skills I want to develop,” Hadley said. “I got a taste of materials growth, so I’d love to dive deeper into that, along with etching, fabrication, optoelectronics and chip design.”
Hadley earned this opportunity through the Open Quantum Initiative (OQI), hosted through the Chicago Quantum Exchange, and was one of five students nationwide who went on to work at the Argonne National Laboratory, the largest national laboratory in the Midwest.
Her research covered finding the optimal crystal host for an erbium atom which can act as a qubit. Hadley said she is most interested in learning quantum physics and being able to do research at a nationally recognized laboratory was invaluable.
“Learning through the OQI fellowship, specifically at Argonne, was a phenomenal experience,” she said. “I was able to gain hands-on experience with state-of-the-art equipment and dive deeper into my understanding of quantum theory. I was even able to be a co-author on the paper that was written for the research I helped with, which was just recently submitted to Applied Physics Letters.
Hadley serves as the president of the WIU Physics Club and said she learned a lot through her summer experience. She plans to carry those lessons through the rest of her college career and beyond.
“Over the summer I learned quantum computing research is so much more than that, with research being done in chemistry, materials science, fabrication, and so many others,” Hadley said. “Understanding that made me excited to work in a field that is more interdisciplinary than I had previously thought.”
To learn more about Hadley and the OQI program at the Argonne National Laboratory, visit bit.ly/4pwwmBb.
For more information on WIU’s Physics program, visit wiu.edu/physics.