John graduated with an integrated master's in mathematical physics at the University of Liverpool in 2022. Since then, John has worked as both a data analyst and data engineer and now his passion for quantum computing has drawn him back into academia.
John first developed his interest in quantum computing through his bachelor’s research project which involved researching the quantum Fourier transform and quantum phase estimation. This sparked him to pursue researching quantum computing further in his master's thesis. His master’s thesis focused on utilising IBM's Qiskit package and the cross-resonance interaction within superconducting transmon qubits to produce a pulse level controlled-not gate. This research ultimately led John to be awarded the NA Software Honours Prize for Mathematical Software.
In 2024, John joined the LIV.INNO CDT as a member of the University of Liverpool’s Department of Mathematical Science. Initially John will utilise existing noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices such as those based on binary qubits, d-state qudits, continuous-variable qumodes, and hybrid systems to simulate small physical systems, such as the lattice-regularised Wess–Zumino model. In further stages of the project, John will develop customised error mitigation techniques to optimise the performance of the most promising of these devices. There may also be the opportunity to contribute to the co-design of future quantum hardware.