William Oliver

William D. Oliver is the Henry Ellis Warren (1894) Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences in MIT’s Department Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. A joint appointment, Oliver is also a Professor of Physics. A Lincoln Laboratory Fellow, the Associate Director of RLE, and the Director of the Center for Quantum Engineering, Oliver works with the Quantum Information and Integrated Nanosystems Group at Lincoln Laboratory and the Engineering Quantum Systems Group at MIT, where he provides programmatic and technical leadership for programs related to the development of quantum and classical high-performance computing technologies for quantum information science applications. His interests include the materials growth, fabrication, design, and control of superconducting quantum processors, as well as the development of cryogenic packaging and control electronics involving cryogenic CMOS and single-flux quantum digital logic.

Oliver serves on the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee and the U.S. Committee for Superconducting Electronics, and he is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He earned undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering and Japanese from the University of Rochester, an MS in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Selected Publications

• Menke, T., Häse, F.,Gustavsson, S., Kerman, A.J., Oliver, W.D., Aspuru-Guzik, A. (2021). Automated design of superconducting circuits and its application to 4-local couplers. Nature Quantum Information 7, 49.
• Vepsäläinen, A.P., Karamlou, A.H., Orrell, J.L., Dogra, A.S., Loer, B., Vasconcelos, F., Kim, D.K., Melville, A.J.,  Niedzielski, B.M., Yoder, J.L., Gustavsson, S., Formaggio, J.A., VanDevender, B.A., Oliver, W.D.(2020). Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence. Nature 584, 551-556.
• Kannan, B., Ruckriegel, M., Campbell, D.L., Kockum, A.F., Braumüller, J., Kim, D.K., Kjaergaard, M., Krantz, P., Melville, A.J., Niedzielski, B.M., Vepsäläinen, A.P., Winik, R., Yoder, J.L., Nori, F., Orlando, T.P., Gustavsson, S., Oliver, W.D. (2020). Waveguide quantum electrodynamics with giant superconducting artificial atoms. Nature 583, 775–779.
• Yost, D.W., Schwartz, M.E., Mallek, J., Rosenberg, D., Stull, C., Yoder, J.L., Calusine, G., Cook, M., Das, R., Day, A.L., Golden, E.B., Kim, D.K., Melville, A.J., Niedzielski, B.M., Woods, W., Kerman, A.J., Oliver, W.D. (2020). Solid-state qubits integrated with superconducting through-silicon vias. npj Quantum Information 6, 59.

Media

• January 19, 2021: MIT News, Transforming quantum computing’s promise into practice.
• September 30, 2020: Gizmodo Australia, D-Wave’s New Quantum Computer Is Inscrutable and Open for Business.
• August 28, 2020: US Department of Energy, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Department of Energy Announces the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee.
• August 26, 2020: MIT News, Cosmic rays may soon stymie quantum computing.
• August 10, 2020: MIT News, MIT researchers lead high school educational initiative on quantum computing.
• July 29, 2020: MIT News, “Giant atoms” enable quantum processing and communication in one.
• January 23, 2019: MIT News, Q&A: The talent shortage in quantum computing.