Scientist

Welcome!

I'm Hilary Hurst and I am an Assistant Professor of Physics at San José State University. I currently serve as the the Program Director of the Quantum Technology Master of Science at SJSU, the first degree of it's kind in California. I'm a quantum educator and theoretical physics researcher, with broad interests many-body atomic physics and quantum information science, including

  • theory of quantum measurement and feedback control for many-body quantum systems
  • noise mitigation and characterization in open quantum systems
  • dynamics of spinor Bose-Einstein condensates under continuous measurement
  • control of topological defects - magnetic skyrmions and vortices - in ultracold atomic systems

Interested in doing research with me? Fill out this interest form (SJSU students only) or send me an email at hilary.hurst @ sjsu.edu to discuss available opportunities.

Research

Quantum Control for Open Systems

State Engineering in Quantum Gases

domains

Weak Measurement and Feedback Control

msrmt

Quantum Dissipation

magnet

Opening up the quantum world. One of the most counter-intuitive aspects of quantum mechanics is the effect that measurement has on a quantum system. Just by looking at a quantum system (measuring it), an observer can affect the outcome of an experiment. This can often be detrimental to experimental outcomes, but there are situations in which it can actually be helpful. One such situation is in using results from quantum measurement to perform feedback control, thereby changing state of the quantum system in real-time. Quantum feedback control can be particularly tricky, because any disturbance to the system can affect entanglement and coherence - both key quantum properties for computation.

In my research, I study the problem of robust quantum feedback control in a variety of ways. I seeks to understand how noise and dissipation affects quantum systems, and I also explore how to use weak measurement as a tool to control quantum systems without completely opening them up to the environment. I develop quantum control methods and theories specific to many-body systems, which can have their own complicated internal dynamics. I use a variety of analytical and numerical tools in my theoretical research and I collaborate closely with experimental groups.

Publications & Preprints

  1. Shivam Kamboj, Rembert A. Duine, Benedetta Flebus, and Hilary M. Hurst (2023) "Oscillatory Edge Modes in Two Dimensional Spin-Torque Oscillator Arrays" arXiv:2307.13876. Accepted for publication in Physical Review B.
  2. Yamaguchi, E. P. Hurst, H. M., & Spielman, I. B. (2023) "Feedback cooled Bose-Einstein condensation: near and far from equilibrium." Physical Review A, 107, 063306.
  3. Hurst, H. M. & Flebus, B. (2022) "Non-Hermitian physics in magnetic systems" Journal of Applied Physics, 132, 220902.
  4. Gunnink, P. M., Flebus, B., Hurst, H. M., & Duine, R. A. (2022) "Nonlinear dynamics of the non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model." Physical Review B, 105(10), 104433.
  5. Asfaw, A. et al. (2022) "Building a Quantum Engineering Undergraduate Program" IEEE Transactions on Education 65(2), 220-242.
  6. Hurst, H. M., Guo, S., & Spielman, I. B. (2020). “Feedback Induced Magnetic Phases in Binary Bose-Einstein Condensates.” Physical Review Research, 2, 043325.
  7. Flebus, B., Duine, R. A. & Hurst, H. M. (2020). "Non-Hermitian topology of one-dimensional spin-torque oscillator arrays." Physical Review B 102, 180408(R).
  8. Hurst, H. M., Galitski, V. & Heikkilä T. T. (2020). "Electron Induced Massive Dynamics of Magnetic Domain Walls." Physical Review B, 101(5), 054407.
  9. Hurst, H. M. & Spielman, I. B. (2019). "Measurement-induced dynamics and stabilization of spinor-condensate domain walls." Physical Review A, 99(5), 053612.
  10. Shim, Y.-P., Ruskov, R., Hurst, H. M., Tahan, C. (2019). "Induced quantum dot probe for material characterization." Applied Physics Letters 114, 152105.
  11. Hurst, H. M., Efimkin, D. K., Spielman, I. B., & Galitski, V. (2017). "Kinetic theory of dark solitons with tunable friction." Physical Review A, 95(5), 053604.
  12. Aycock, L. M., Hurst, H. M., Efimkin, D. K., Genkina, D., Lu, H. I., Galitski, V. & Spielman, I. B. (2017). "Brownian motion of solitons in a Bose–Einstein condensate." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(10), 2503-2508.
  13. Hurst, H. M., Wilson, J. H., Pixley, J. H., Spielman, I. B., & Natu, S. S. (2016). "Real-space mean-field theory of a spin-1 Bose gas in synthetic dimensions." Physical Review A, 94(6), 063613.
  14. Hurst, H. M., Efimkin, D. K., & Galitski, V. (2016). "Transport of Dirac electrons in a random magnetic field in topological heterostructures." Physical Review B, 93(24), 245111.
  15. Hurst, H. M., Efimkin, D. K., Zang, J., & Galitski, V. (2015). "Charged skyrmions on the surface of a topological insulator." Physical Review B, 91(6), 060401(R).

Teaching

Spring 2024

Physics 51: General Physics II, Electricity & Magnetism

Fall 2023

Physics 161: Fundamentals of Quantum Information

Physics 20: Invitation to Physics and Astronomy

Spring 2023

Physics 240: Computational Physics

Physics 51: General Physics II, Electricity & Magnetism

Fall 2022

Physics 163: Quantum Mechanics

Physics 20: Invitation to Physics and Astronomy

Spring 2022

Physics 155: Fundamentals of Quantum Information

Spring 2021

Physics 107: Waves and Oscillations

Fall 2020

Physics 163: Quantum Mechanics

Group

Current and former group members are listed below

Graduate Students: Undergradate Students:
  • Vidushi Saxena
  • Bhavdeep Randhawa (Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program student)
  • Kartik Katam
  • Nourdean Shraim
  • Yik Haw Teoh (Masters Program at Rice University)
  • Walter Mendoza (PhD Program at UC Davis)
  • Bang Tran
  • Talise Oh (Gavilan Summer Student --> UC Santa Cruz)

About Me

I grew up in Greeley, Colorado and received a Bachelor's degree in Engineering Physics from the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) with a minor in Public Policy. I am an All-American track and field athlete and was awarded the Senior Scholar-Athlete Award upon graduating from CSM. I then traveled abroad to earn a Masters in Applied Mathematics & Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge, where I was a member of Wolfson college and rower for the Wolfson W1 women's eight. I moved back to the US to complete a PhD, and I received my degree in theoretical condensed matter physics from the University of Maryland under the supervision of Prof. Victor Galitski. My dissertation focused on the dynamics of topological defects in hybrid quantum systems. While I was a graduate student at Maryland I served as Event Coordinator for Women in Physics and was the physics department representative to Graduate Student Government. Following my PhD I was a National Research Council (NRC) Postdoctoral Fellow at NIST and the Joint Quantum Institute in the group of Ian Spielman , focusing on the theory of quantum measurement and feedback control for many-body systems. I joined San José State University in Fall 2020 as an Assistant Professor of physics. SJSU is the largest public university in Silicon Valley and a founding campus of the California State University system.

Outside of physics, I enjoy cooking, reading novels, and staying active. I love being outdoors and you can often find me running, doing yoga, or hiking with my husband and our hound dog Leia. I am an avid traveler (when it is safe to do so), and I have visited over 25 countries on 6 of the 7 continents. My profile picture was taken on a trip to Greenland in 2019.