PIs

Status: unreviewed revisit date: None Application status: none LOR status: not_needed
Department(s)/lab(s): Physics and Astronomy (Adjunct) / SQMS Center | SQMS Center - Technology & Materials Thrust @ Fermilab
Summary:

Grassellino directs the DOE's SQMS Center, a Fermilab-Northwestern-led national quantum initiative center, and pioneered nitrogen-doping surface treatments that give niobium superconducting RF (SRF) cavities record-high quality factors. Beyond their traditional use in particle accelerators, these ultra-high-Q cavities are now deployed as extremely sensitive electromagnetic detectors: the Dark SRF experiment set new sensitivity limits on dark-photon light-shining-through-wall searches, and SRF cavities (e.g. the MAGO design) are being explored as high-frequency gravitational-wave and axion detectors, alongside long-lived multimode quantum memories for superconducting quantum computing.

Created at: July 10, 2026, 2:45 a.m. Updated at: July 10, 2026, 2:45 a.m. Metadata: Reviewed July 2026; primary lab is SQMS Center at Fermilab (Northwestern appointment is adjunct).