William D. Oliver

Professor of Physics
Henry Ellis Warren (1894) Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Is a recognized leader in the quantum engineering of extensible superconducting quantum circuits.
Research Areas
Condensed Matter Experiment, Quantum Information Science
(617) 258-6018
Office: 13-3050
Lab(s): Engineering Quantum Systems
Affiliated Center(s): Research Laboratory of Electronics, Condensed Matter Experiment Group (CMX)
Assistant: Chihiro Watanabe

Research Interests

Will’s research spans the materials growth, fabrication and 3D integration, design, control, and measurement of superconducting qubits and their use in small scale quantum processors. He also develops cryogenic packaging and control electronics involving cryogenic complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) and single-flux quantum digital logic.

In explaining quantum technology, professor of physics and director of the MIT Center for Quantum Computing, Will Oliver cites MIT’s interdisciplinarity as a key component in developing these technologies. In this video he, along with research scientist Jeff Grover, explore the origins of quantum mechanics and the state of quantum computing today.

Biographical Sketch

William D. Oliver joined MIT Lincoln Laboratory in 2003 and the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics in 2006, where he has since performed research across the full breadth of quantum and classical technologies needed to accomplish large-scale quantum information science demonstrations. He is presently appointed Lincoln Laboratory Fellow (2017) and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and of Physics (2021).

Will serves as the Director of the MIT Center for Quantum Engineering, Associate Director of the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics, and as a member of the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee.

Will received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and BA degree in Japanese from the University of Rochester in 1995; his SM degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 1997; and his PhD degree in Electrical Engineering with PhD minor in Physics from Stanford University in 2003.

MIT CSAIL Alliances Podcast: “Understanding Quantum Computing with Professor Peter Shor and Professor William Oliver.
Produced by Nate Caldwell. Published September 12, 2022.
In the news
A futuristic quantum computer chip is made of a grid with qubits on the intersections. These red spherical qubits emit flame-like energy between them.
In the news

MIT scientists tune the entanglement structure in an array of qubits

The advance offers a way to characterize a fundamental resource needed for quantum computing.

Awards & Honors

  • 2023 // AAAS Fellow
  • 2021 // Thornton Family Faculty Research and Innovation Fellowship
  • 2016 // American Physical Society Fellow "For pioneering contributions to the physics and associated engineering of robust, reproducible, superconducting quantum systems and high-performance cryogenic control electronics."
  • 2013 // JSPS Visiting Researcher

Key Publications

  • Waveguide quantum electrodynamics with giant superconducting artificial atoms B. Kannan, M. Ruckriegel, D. Campbell, A.F. Kockum, J. Braumüller, D. Kim, M. Kjaergaard, P. Krantz, A. Melville, B.M. Niedzielski, A. Vepsäläinen, R. Winik, J. Yoder, F. Nori, T.P. Orlando, S. Gustavsson, W.D. Oliver Nature 583, 775–779 (2020)

  • Impact of ionizing radiation on superconducting qubit coherence A. P. Vepsäläinen, A.H. Karamlou, J.L. Orrell, A.S. Dogra, B. Loer, F. Vasconcelos, D.K. Kim, A.J. Melville, B.M. Niedzielski, J.L. Yoder, S. Gustavsson, J.A. Formaggio, B.A. VanDevender, W.D. Oliver Nature 584, 551-556 (2020)

  • Coherent control of a hybrid superconducting circuit made with graphene-based van der Waals heterostructures J. I-J. Wang, D. Rodan-Legrain, L. Bretheau, D. L. Campbell, B. Kannan, D. Kim, M. Kjaergaard, P. Krantz, G. O. Samach, F. Yan, J. L. Yoder, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, T. P. Orlando, S. Gustavsson, P. Jarillo-Herrero, W. D. Oliver Nature Nanotechnology 14, 120-125 (2019)