Our group studies Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors (SNSPD) using Niobium Nitride, which has a fairly high critical temperature and critical current density but does not have ideal optical properties for a photo-detector. By placing a superconducting material next to a normal conductor, semiconductor, or another superconductor, the properties of the superconductor and the other material are hybridized through the proximity effect. This can potentially be used to create SNSPDs with more ideal optical properties. I will be growing films including layers of both superconductors and other conductors to analyze how the hybridization affects their physical and optical properties. This will enable a quantitative look at how the proximity effect works on th

I worked in the FBML to study MgB2 Josephson Junctions and their properties. I did theoretical physics research at the Technion in Israel studying quantum computing and modeling such systems. I also studied superconductivity and created a superconducting magnet during 8.14 last spring.