Aria Thorne
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE — MASTER OF SCIENCE IN QUANTUM COMPUTING &
PHOTONICS ENGINEERING
Background:
Quantum Hardware & Photonic
Integrated Circuit (PIC) Engineer
Email:
a.thorne@quantum-
optics.org
Focus Area:
Photonic Qubits, Integrated
Waveguides & Quantum Error Correction
I. EXECUTIVE MOTIVATION & VISION
The dawn of fault-tolerant quantum computing relies heavily on scalable, room-temperature qubit architectures that
overcome cryogenic cooling bottlenecks. Integrated photonics offers a transformative platform for quantum
information processing through high-speed single-photon emission, low-loss silicon nitride waveguides, and optical
entanglement networks. Having spent four years designing photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and quantum key
distribution (QKD) hardware, I seek to pursue a Master of Science in Quantum Computing & Photonics Engineering
to master fault-tolerant quantum gate synthesis, squeezed-state light generation, and quantum error mitigation
algorithms.
II. ACADEMIC FOUNDATION & TECHNICAL MILESTONES
I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics & Optical Engineering (CGPA: 3.95/4.00), specializing in
quantum electrodynamics, semiconductor laser physics, and nanophotonic fabrication. As a Senior Photonics
Engineer at Luminar Quantum Technologies, I led the simulation and layout of silicon photonic interferometers and
superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) interfaces.
QUANTUM & PHOTONICS
PROJECT
NANOPHOTONIC ARCHITECTURE & TOOLSTACK
QUANTIFIABLE PERFORMANCE
OUTCOME
Silicon Nitride Waveguide
Designed sub-micron low-loss routing paths using Ansys
Lumerical FDTD.
0.08 dB/cm Propagation Loss
Quantum Gate
Interferometer
Integrated Mach-Zehnder thermal phase shifters for high-
fidelity state control.
99.4% Single-Qubit Gate Fidelity
QKD Photonic Module
Engineered high-frequency single-photon source emitters
for fiber optics.
2.4 Gbps Secure Key Rate
Proposed Thesis Research Direction:
"Scalable Photonic Qubit Entanglement via Integrated Lithium Niobate-on-Insulator
(LNOI) Waveguides for Fault-Tolerant Quantum Networks."
III. ACADEMIC PROGRAM FIT & INSTITUTIONAL SYNERGY
Your university’s Quantum Science Center and Center for Integrated Photonics are world leaders in optical quantum
computing and integrated quantum optics. I am eager to contribute to research in the Nanophotonics & Quantum
Hardware Laboratory, leveraging your cleanroom nanofabrication facilities and cryogenic optical testing setups.
Aria Thorne | Statement of Purpose
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