Mitchell Peterson

Major: Electrical Engineering
Mentors: Michael Choquer, Professor Galan Moody

Python Automation of Lab Instrumentation for Quantum Device Characterization

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are an attractive platform for realizing coherent quantum interfaces between various solid-state qubits span- ning microwave to optical frequencies. In previous work, we demon- strated SAWs can modulate the exciton transition of isolated self- as- sembled quantum dots (QDs), measured through photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). Future experiments with SAW devices prepared in their quantum mechanical ground state requires new lab instrumen- tation and instrument automation to enable synchronized microwave frequency and PL experiments, which are otherwise unfeasible with manual instrument control due to the large data volume processed. Through integration of standard instrument drivers with Python and C library programming interfaces, we demonstrate automated control
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of the microwave frequency signal generator, microwave spectrum an- alyzer, and optical CCD camera. Python scripts using these interfaces enable fully-automated measurementsincluding microwave frequency S- parameter characterization and microwave frequency-dependent PL es- sential for future experiments with QDs and SAWs. Our results are an important step towards characterizing quantum interactions between SAWs and QDs.