When Mohammad Javad Khojasteh arrived at MIT’s Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) in 2020 to begin his postdoctoral appointment, he was introduced to a whole new universe. The domain I knew best could be explained by “classical” physics that predicts the behavior of ordinary objects with almost perfect accuracy (think Newton’s three laws of motion). But this new universe was governed by strange laws that can produce unpredictable results while operating on scales typically smaller than an atom.
“The rules of quantum mechanics are counterintuitive and seem very strange when you start learning them,” says Khojasteh. “But the more one learns, the clearer it becomes that the underlying logic is extremely elegant.”
As a member of Professor Moe Win’s lab, called the Wireless Information and Network Sciences Laboratory, or WINS Lab, Khojasteh’s job is to straddle both the classical and quantum realms in order to improve communication, detection and the latest generation. computational capabilities.
Growing up in Iran, Khojasteh knew he wanted to be a scientist from an early age. In high school, he was captivated by physics in particular. A first-generation college graduate, he earned a dual bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and mathematics from Sharif University of Technology, before completing his PhD in electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). There, he worked at the intersection of robotics and machine learning, developing tools to protect against cyber threats as well as learning planning algorithms for autonomous robots to operate safely in changing real-world scenarios . After graduating from UCSD in 2019, she remembers calling home to share the good news: “Mom, I’m officially a doctor now.”
After a stint at Caltech, where Khojasteh collaborated with NASA researchers to develop planning and control algorithms to improve autonomous off-road driving and build robots for life-detection missions on other planets, Khojasteh moved across the country to Cambridge, Massachusetts to join LIDS. and the WINS Lab.
“LIDS has always been at the heart of decision-making and the field of information science,” he says. “As an undergraduate student, and later as a PhD student, I remember reading papers and textbooks from LIDS professors, so having the opportunity to collaborate with these renowned researchers during my postdoc has been very exciting. LIDS is such an interesting and vibrant environment.”
Up to this point, Khojasteh had mainly focused on classical systems such as autonomous vehicles, although he had always maintained a strong interest in quantum systems. In the WINS Lab, he was finally able to focus on both activities in tandem.
There is a quantum revolution on the horizon, he explains, that will transform the way devices perform sensing, computing and communications tasks. Problems that take classical computers years to solve will be child’s play for the large-scale quantum computers expected to come online in the coming decades. For example, these new-wave quantum computers will allow biologists and chemists to better simulate molecular interactions to design new drugs, and even help engineers design better batteries. These machines will also harness the laws of quantum physics to advance medical research and clinical care.
In Khojasteh’s words: “This quantum revolution will change lives and help us better understand the world around us.”
Because he was still so new to the field of quantum mechanics when he arrived at the WINS Lab, Khojasteh began by reading and discussing related papers with his labmates to catch up. Meanwhile, he began working on a project related to classical systems, helping robots navigate while keeping their locations secret to avoid possible security breaches.
As Khojasteh began to master the rules of the quantum universe, he undertook a second project that has since become his main endeavor, aimed at developing data-driven techniques to control the basic units of information that feed quantum computers.
While classical computers store information as electrical pulses representing ones and zeros called “bits,” quantum computers use quantum bits, or “qubits,” which can typically be subatomic particles. Based on their unique quantum mechanical properties, qubits can represent additional values beyond just 0 or 1: they can also represent 0 and 1 at the same time in different weights (a phenomenon known as superposition that can lead to computational advantages). However, because the dynamics of quantum systems are so difficult to predict, controlling the state of these qubits is no easy task. While traditional approaches rely on manually designed models, Khojasteh’s method uses a hierarchical design that combines exploratory control, quantum tomography, Hamiltonian learning, and data-driven control techniques to more precisely tune the dynamics of these qubits, allowing quantum computers to operate more efficiently.
“I learned a lot from Professor Win,” says Khojasteh. “There are very few research groups with a foot in both classical and quantum physics, so working in his lab has been an incredible opportunity.”
With about a year left in his postdoctoral appointment, Khojasteh has begun to consider his next career steps. He plans to apply for research scientist jobs in industry as well as faculty positions. Becoming a teacher would allow him to continue teaching, something he has thoroughly enjoyed during his time at LIDS. In addition to serving as a teaching assistant, he has also volunteered at MIT’s Summer Research Program (MSRP), which enables students from historically underrepresented groups in science to become researchers. Khojasteh mentored an MSRP student for over a year, and the two even co-authored a study together.
Whether he pursues a career in academia or industry, Khojasteh aims to continue conducting fundamental research in quantum systems. His interdisciplinary background in physics, mathematics, engineering, robotics, machine learning, and quantum mechanics has given him a multifaceted perspective, which he applies to every research problem he encounters.
“I’m someone who likes to cross imaginary boundaries between fields and try different methods to approach a research question,” he says. “Everyone at LIDS also really values this interdisciplinary approach, which gives them a broad perspective to conduct really interesting research and solve important problems.”
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