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Building 13 on the MIT campus houses a $500,000 device that looks like an elongated chandelier, with a series of gold discs connected by thin silver tubes. A device known as a dilution refrigerator plays an important role in the work of his graduate student Alex Greene. All her experiments are stored here. “My life follows its rhythm,” they say.
When Green first helped put new samples into the fridge, they were playing some Danish screamo music, working with a postdoc at midnight on a Friday. Since then, Refrigerator has taken her on both exciting and frustrating adventures during her doctoral research into reducing the errors in her system of quantum computing. Green grew up in northern New Jersey with his identical twin, Jamie.
The two were very ambitious since childhood, pursuing running, pole vaulting and rock climbing outside of school. Her father was a neurologist and her mother was a former electrical engineer who worked at Bell Labs. Bell Labs is known for pioneering important computer and telephone technologies.
In 2010, Alex and Jamie entered MIT as undergraduates. Alex was interested in biomedical engineering in high school, but “but realized he hated working in a ‘wet lab’ where scientists work with chemicals and biological materials,” they say. . Another influence was Carl Sagan’s Contact, a science fiction book about astronomers searching for extraterrestrial intelligence. “I fell in love with physics,” says Green.
Greene did his MEng in quantum computing while he stayed at MIT and worked at the Lincoln Labs. So they sought ways to improve a technique called trapped ion quantum computing. It uses atoms suspended in air and guided by a laser.
As an MIT student, Green studied physics, electrical engineering, computer science. They have found a home in the field of quantum computing, where researchers are working to build extremely powerful computers using the physical concepts of quantum mechanics.
After completing their master’s degree, they switched to another technology called superconducting quantum computing. Instead of floating atoms, this technology uses tiny electrical circuits that are great at carrying electrical current. To control these circuits, researchers need only send electrical signals.
For this project, Greene wanted to work with his MIT professor, William Oliver. Once again, Green decided to stay at the institute – this time to get his doctorate there.