Jason Robert Petta (born 1975) is a physics researcher, professor, and noted contributor to developments in

quantum computing Quantum computing is a type of computation whose operations can harness the phenomena of quantum mechanics, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement. Devices that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers. Though ...

. He is a professor at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, and was formerly Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

. Petta was born in 1975 in Freeport, Illinois. After graduating from Freeport High School, he attended technical school and worked in construction for two years before enrolling in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He received a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in engineering physics from that university, as well as both an

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in physics from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. His thesis title was ''Effects of spin-orbit coupling on single quantum states in metallic quantum dots'', completed in 2003 under the advisor Daniel Ralph. After graduating Cornell with his Ph.D., Petta worked as a

postdoctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

in Charlie Marcus's research group at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, participating in experiments trapping and detecting singular

electrons The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no ...

and controlling spin states with two electrons. Petta left Harvard and started a position at

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

in 2006, before joining

in 2007. In 2008, Petta won a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering. He also won a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2009 and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2010. Also in 2010, Petta, then an assistant professor at Princeton, described a discovery in quantum computing: when applying voltage to electrodes, electrons can be formed into " spin qubits", a quantum version of a bit. This was touted as a milestone in physics by Princeton, and experts such as David DiVincenzo commended the discovery. In 2015, Petta spearheaded the development of a microwave laser composed of multiple quantum dots for use in quantum computing. Other research at Princeton included

quantum coherence In physics, two wave sources are coherent if their frequency and waveform are identical. Coherence is an ideal property of waves that enables stationary (i.e., temporally or spatially constant) interference. It contains several distinct concepts, ...

control within

nanostructures A nanostructure is a structure of intermediate size between microscopic and molecular structures. Nanostructural detail is microstructure at nanoscale. In describing nanostructures, it is necessary to differentiate between the number of dimensi ...

semiconductors A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...

. Petta was named Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics, an

endowed professorship A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are of ...

, in 2019. As of 2024, he works as both a research director at

HRL Laboratories HRL Laboratories (formerly Hughes Research Laboratories) is a research center in Malibu, California, established in 1960. Formerly the research arm of Hughes Aircraft, HRL is currently owned by General Motors Corporation and Boeing. The resear ...

and a professor of physics at

. At UCLA, he is a faculty member in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, works for the Center for Quantum Science and Engineering, and moved into his eponymous Petta Lab in May 2023. Petta is a fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

, fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

, and winner of the association's Newcomb Cleveland Prize.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petta, Jason Living people 1975 births People from Freeport, Illinois University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Cornell University alumni Princeton University faculty University of California, Los Angeles faculty Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Physicists from Illinois