As an expert in trapped ions and qubits, Dr. AJ Rasmusson is bringing an exciting new field of physics to BYU as the newest faculty member in the Physics and Astronomy department.
Dr. Rasmusson received his bachelor's from BYU and did research with Dr. Jean-Francois Van Huele. As an undergraduate, he ran quantum circuits on IBM’s public-access quantum computer and fell in love with experimental physics. This led him to pursue graduate work in quantum computing, specifically with trapped ions, at Indiana University.
He initially planned to pursue his love for quantum computing through a career in industry, but he received a strong spiritual impression to go into academia instead. Following this, Dr. Rasmusson pivoted from a job search to a postdoctoral fellowship at NIST in Boulder, Colorado. There he worked in the Ion Storage Group, which he describes as the “mecca of ion trapping.” After his time at NIST, his goal was to become a professor at BYU. He felt strongly about this, as experiments with physical qubits did not exist in Utah at the time. Dr. Rasmusson felt establishing this field in Utah would be a worthwhile and fulfilling endeavor. He arrived at BYU in 2025 and is excited to begin doing experimental quantum information science here.
As part of this, Dr. Rasmusson is looking for students excited about quantum information to join his research group. His group focuses on using trapped ions to explore quantum information, with applications like quantum computing, quantum simulation, quantum networking, and atomic clocks. This is done by encoding information into the electronic energy levels of the trapped ions and using lasers to precisely manipulate quantum degrees of freedom of the ion. He is interested in exploring new ways to measure the qubit that do not take it out of superposition, like traditional spin measurements would, but in fact artificially enhance the quantum coherence. He is also interested in probing quantum phenomena experimentally to explore differences between quantum and classical mechanics. He encourages any interested students to come talk to him about joining the group.
Dr. Rasmusson is warm, friendly, and passionate about both his work and supporting students. We are excited to have him at BYU and to see where his research goes!
Student Authors: Eben Lonsdale, Dylan Harris, Jaxon Phillips, Nathaniel Stevenson
