Paola Cappellaro PhD '06

KEPCO Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Professor of Physics
Specialist in spin-based quantum information processing and precision measurements in the solid state.
Research Areas
Atomic Physics, Quantum Information Science
(617) 253-8137
Office: 26-303
Lab(s): Quantum Engineering Group, QUISM (Qubit Enabled Imaging, Sensing, and Metrology)
Affiliated Center(s): Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms, MIT Center for Quantum Engineering , iQuISE (Interdisciplinary Quantum Information Science and Engineering) , Department of Nuclear Science & Engineering
Assistant: Dianne Lior

Research Interests

Prof. Cappellaro is an expert in NMR, ESR, coherent control and quantum information science. She is a specialist in spin-based quantum information processing and precision measurements in the solid state. With collaborators, she developed the concept and first demonstrations of NV-diamond magnetometers. Cappellaro’s major contributions have been in developing control techniques for nuclear and electronic spin qubits, including NV-diamond, inspired by NMR techniques and quantum information ideas. The goal is the realization of practical quantum nano-devices, such as sensors and simulators, more powerful than their classical counterparts, as well as the acquisition of a deeper knowledge of quantum systems and their environment.

Courtesy of RLEatMIT | YouTube

Biographical Sketch

Paola Cappellaro is Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the Research Lab for Electronics, where she leads the Quantum Engineering Group. She received her Ph.D in 2006 from MIT and she then joined Harvard University as a postdoctoral associate in the Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (ITAMP), before going back to MIT as a faculty in 2009.

Prof. Cappellaro is an expert in NMR, ESR, coherent control and quantum information science. She is a specialist in spin-based quantum information processing and precision measurements in the solid state. With collaborators, she developed the concept and first demonstrations of NV-diamond magnetometers. Cappellaro’s major contributions have been in developing control techniques for nuclear and electronic spin qubits, including NV-diamond, inspired by NMR techniques and quantum information ideas. The goal is the realization of practical quantum nano-devices, such as sensors and simulators, more powerful than their classical counterparts, as well as the acquisition of a deeper knowledge of quantum systems and their environment. Her work has been recently recognized by the Young Investigator Award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and a Merkator Fellowship.

In the news
Against a pink background, a blue and red laser beam shoot down from the top as wavey arrows. They point to a beige atomic nucleus with a gauge needle in the center pointing left, signifying spin direction.
In the news

Engineers discover a new way to control atomic nuclei as “qubits”

Using lasers, researchers can directly control a property of nuclei called spin, that can encode quantum information.

Awards & Honors

  • 2020 // Committed to Caring Award
  • 2014 // Merkator Fellowship
  • 2013 // Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Professorship
  • 2012 // Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Award
  • 2010 // PAI Outstanding Teacher Award, MIT student chapter of the American Nuclear Society
  • 2005 // Graduate Teaching Award, MIT School of Engineering
  • 2004 // Manson Benedict Fellowship, MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering

Key Publications