Quantum systems are fragile, constantly altered and disrupted by their environments. The Higginbotham group investigates electronic devices that are exceptions to this rule, aiming to understand the basic principles of their operations and develop future information-processing technology.

The Higginbotham group experimentally explores the boundaries between condensed-matter systems and quantum information processing. In practice, the group builds small electronic devices that combine superconductors, semiconductors, and mechanical oscillators. The central idea of their approach is that building rudimentary information-processing devices both teaches us about the physics of these interesting systems and advances technology such as quantum computing. Currently, the group is interested in using electromechanical and microwave measurement techniques to study quantities that are “invisible” to conventional electrical circuits.