Steven Girvin Explained

Steve Girvin
Birth Date:5 April 1950
Birth Place:Austin, Texas, U.S.
Fields:Condensed matter theory
Workplaces:Yale University
Doctoral Advisor:J. J. Hopfield
Academic Advisors:G. D. Mahan
Doctoral Students:Aditi Mitra
Known For:Strongly correlated electron states in low dimensional systems.
Awards:Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize (2007)

Steven Mark Girvin[1] is an American physicist who is Sterling Professor and former Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics at Yale University. He is noted for his theoretical work on quantum many body systems such as the fractional quantum Hall effect, and as co-developer of circuit quantum electrodynamics (circuit QED), the application of the ideas of quantum optics to superconducting microwave circuits. Circuit QED is now the leading architecture for construction of quantum computers based on superconducting qubits.

Early life and education

Steven Girvin was born in Austin, Texas, on April 5, 1950,[2] and attended high school in Brant Lake, New York, graduating with a class of five students.[3] Girvin attended Bates College and received a B.S. degree in physics in 1971. He also received an M.S. from the University of Maine in 1973.[4]

Girvin later completed postgraduate studies at Princeton University, receiving an M.S. in 1974 and an Ph.D. in 1977. His doctoral thesis, published in 1976, is entitled Topics in Condensed Matter Physics: The Role of Exchange in the Lithium K Edge and the Fluorescence Spectrum of Heavily Doped Cadmium Sulphide and was completed under the supervision of J. J. Hopfield.[5]

Career

From 1977 to 1979, Girvin worked as a postdoctoral researcher at both Indiana University Bloomington and Chalmers University of Technology, under the advising of G. D. Mahan. Girvin then held a physicist position at the National Bureau of Standards from 1979 to 1987 and a professorship at Indiana University from 1987 to 2001 before joining Yale in 2001.[6]

Girvin's research focus has been theoretical study of collective quantum behavior in strongly correlated many body systems and their phase transitions;[7] he has worked on problems such as the quantum Hall effect, the superconductorinsulator transition, and quantum spin chains. He works with experimentalists Robert Schoelkopf and Michel Devoret on the engineering problem of building a quantum computer, and on developing "circuit QED" using superconducting electrical circuits.[8] The group experimentally implemented the first all-electronic quantum processor and executed two-qubit quantum algorithms in 2009.[9] [10] Girvin co-edited the book The Quantum Hall Effect, which has been translated into Japanese, Chinese and Russian. Together with co-author Kun Yang, Girvin published the Cambridge Press textbook Modern Condensed Matter Physics in 2019.

Girvin, James P. Eisenstein and Allan H. MacDonald won the 2007 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize for their "Fundamental experimental and theoretical research on correlated many-electron states in low dimensional systems".

In September 2020, Girvin was appointed as the founding director of the Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA) located at Brookhaven National Laboratory, one of five national quantum information science research centers funded by the Department of Energy. C2QA comprises 88 principal investigators across 24 institutions who "do the basic research needed to make dramatic advances in the performance of quantum computer modules".[11]

In June 2024, Girvin, who was then Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics,[12] became Sterling Professor of Physics.[13] He holds appointments both as a professor of physics and as a professor of applied physics in the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science.[14]

Honors

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Steven Girvin . 2024-07-01 . The Mathematics Genealogy Project.
  2. Web site: Girvin, Steven M. . 2024-07-01 . Physics History Network . American Institute of Physics.
  3. Web site: Emanuel . Janet Rettig . 2006-05-01 . Yale Physicist Steven Girvin Named National Academy of Sciences Fellow . 2024-07-01 . YaleNews . . en.
  4. Web site: Curriculum Vitae . 2024-07-01 . Professor Steven M. Girvin . Yale University.
  5. Book: Girvin, Steven M. . Topics in Condensed Matter Physics: The Role of Exchange in the Lithium K Edge and the Fluorescence Spectrum of Heavily Doped Cadmium Sulphide . 1976 . . 39390676.
  6. Web site: Zierler . David . July 2, 2020 . Steven Girvin . 2024-06-30 . Oral History Interviews . . en.
  7. Web site: Emanuel . Janet Rettig . 2006-11-14 . Yale's Girvin Honored for His Work on Quantum States of Matter . 2024-07-01 . YaleNews . . en.
  8. Web site: 2007 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize Recipient . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091011041512/http://www.aps.org:80/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?name=Steven%20M%2E%20Girvin&year=2007 . 2009-10-11 . 2024-06-30 . Prize Recipient . American Physical Society.
  9. DiCarlo . L. . Chow . J. M. . Gambetta . J. M. . Bishop . Lev S. . Johnson . B. R. . Schuster . D. I. . Majer . J. . Blais . A. . Frunzio . L. . Girvin . S. M. . Schoelkopf . R. J. . 3 . 9 July 2009 . June 28 . Demonstration of two-qubit algorithms with a superconducting quantum processor . . en . 460 . 7252 . 240–244 . 10.1038/nature08121.
  10. Web site: Steven Girvin . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090709111021/http://www.aps.org/about/governance/election/steven_girvin.cfm . 9 July 2009 . 2024-06-30 . Steven Girvin . American Physical Society.
  11. Web site: Steve Girvin named director of Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage. 8 September 2020.
  12. Web site: Steven Girvin . 2024-06-26 . Department of Physics . . en . Steven Girvin: Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics.
  13. Web site: Steven Girvin . 2024-06-28 . Department of Physics . . en . Steven Girvin: Sterling Professor of Physics.
  14. Web site: Steven M. Girvin Department of Applied Physics . 2024-07-01 . appliedphysics.yale.edu . en.
  15. Web site: Science journalist, geodesist and a physicist named Chalmers honorary doctors of 2017 Chalmers. 2021-05-23. www.chalmers.se.
  16. Web site: Prize Recipient. 2021-05-23. www.aps.org. en.
  17. Web site: Steven M. Girvin. 2021-05-23. www.nasonline.org.
  18. News: Emanuel . Janet . May 1, 2006 . Yale Physicist Steven Girvin Named National Academy of Sciences Fellow . dead . https://archive.today/20121212224638/http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=2151 . December 12, 2012 . 20 October 2010 . Yale office of public affairs and communication.
  19. Web site: APS Fellows Archive. 3 October 2020. APS.