This independent research project with the Utah Waves & Architected Materials Lab investigates how engineered lattice metamaterials can physically simulate quantum logic systems. Building on the recent work of Karpov and Rahman (2025) on Unitary mechanical metamaterials with embedded one-qubit logic, my research seeks to extend these ideas from single-qubit gates to two-qubit entanglement systems using architectured lattices.
The foundational paper demonstrated that carefully designed lattice structures can produce transfer matrices mathematically identical to unitary quantum gates. For example, a rhombic lattice geometry can act as a Hadamard or Pauli-X gate, depending on stiffness ratios and geometric parameters.
My first step has been to replicate and validate these results. By recalculating and confirming the transfer matrices and corresponding gate behaviors described in the original study, I established a solid basis for extending the framework. This involved connecting the lattice geometry (angles, stiffness ratios, and skewness parameters) to specific one-qubit transformations, ensuring that the simulation of qubit logic via wave polarization is reliable.
I am expanding the scope by studying the mechanical stiffness parameters of these lattices more deeply. While the original paper highlighted the geometric origins of gate operations, my work emphasizes how variations in stiffness tuning can affect the fidelity and flexibility of the simulated gates. This adds a practical engineering dimension, showing how materials science and mechanics influence the 'programming' of metamaterial-based qubit simulators.
The upcoming phase of my research is to design and simulate a two-qubit system. This will involve arranging two lattices in parallel with coupling bars, creating interactions that can emulate two-qubit gates such as controlled-Hadamard operations capable of producing entanglement. The aim is to show that entanglement, one of the most defining features of quantum computing, can be captured in a purely mechanical, wave-based system. If successful, this would extend the concept of quantum-inspired computing into new physical platforms, offering ways to manipulate waves and information beyond electronics.
As part of my ecology minor, I conducted research at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica on harvestmen (Opiliones), commonly known as daddy longlegs. The project examined whether leg length correlates with habitat use, building on temperate studies that suggested long legs aid climbing in the understory while shorter legs are common on the forest floor.
Our team collected and identified 47 specimens across 12 species from five microhabitats and measured leg-to-body ratios using calipers and microscopy. I contributed to both field sampling, where I located and collected specimens in varied habitats, and lab analysis, which included species identification and morphometric measurements. Using statistical tests (t-tests and ANOVA), we found a clear pattern showing understory species had significantly longer legs than forest floor species, confirming the link between morphology and habitat.
With the Sparks Research Group, I shadowed a graduate researcher on a project using Google’s Gemini Pro LLM to explore semi-automated workflows for extracting structured data from materials science literature. The goal was to transform unstructured text into JSON outputs (chemical compositions, processing conditions, performance properties) and abstractive summaries, making scientific data more accessible for materials informatics.
The main work was refining prompts, reviewing model outputs, and comparing them with human annotations. This focused on reducing manual effort and moving the annotation process closer to full automation, an important step toward building large, open materials science databases.
flowerscharlotte638@gmail.com