Wolfgang Pfaff

For More Information

• Pfaff Lab group website

Education

• PhD, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, 2013
• Diplom (MSc), University of Regensburg, Germany, 2009

Biography

Wolfgang Pfaff received his PhD in Applied Physics from Delft University of Technology (Netherlands) in 2013, under the supervision of Ronald Hanson. His graduate work focused mainly on the quantum control, measurement, and entanglement of individual spins of Nitrogen Vacancy centers, resulting in the first-ever demonstration of deterministic quantum teleportation between distant qubits. Following his graduation, Pfaff joined the lab of Rob Schoelkopf at Yale, where he worked on highly coherent superconducting cavities as quantum memories, and pioneered protocols for distributing quantum information between superconducting devices. Pfaff joined Microsoft Quantum in 2017, using his expertise in superconducting quantum devices to investigate how future, topologically protected qubits can be measured and controlled. He joined the Physics department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Fall 2020 to set up his own lab focusing on superconductiong and hybrid quantum circuits, and in particular on how to scale them.

Academic Positions

• Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2020-present
• Postdoctoral Associate, Dept. of Applied Physics, Yale University, 2014-2017

Other Professional Employment

• Senior Researcher, Microsoft Quantum Lab Delft, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, 2019-2020
• Researcher, Microsoft Quantum Lab Delft, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, 2017-2019

Post-Doctoral Research Opportunities

Our lab is always on the lookout for talented postdocs, and we currently have openings (as of Sept 2025).

Please see our group website for details, and contact me by email to apply.

Graduate Research Opportunities

We will consider accepting one (or possibly two) new graduate students to join our lab as early as Spring 2026 if there are promising candidates.

Please see our group website for details.

Undergraduate Research Opportunities

All open positions are currently filled for the academic year 2025/26.

Please see our group website for details.

Research Interests

• Quantum networks and distributed quantum computing
• Open quantum systems
• Quantum optics
• Superconducting quantum circuits
• Quantum information processing

Selected Articles in Journals

• S. Rani,, X. Cao, A. E. Baptista, A. Hoffmann, and W. Pfaff, High-dynamic-range quantum sensing of magnons and their dynamics using a superconducting qubit, Phys. Rev. Applied 23, 064032 (2025).
• M. Mollenhauer, A. Irfan, X. Cao, S. Mandal, and W. Pfaff, A high-efficiency elementary network of interchangeable superconducting qubit devices, Nat Electron, online (2025).
• X. Cao, A. Irfan, M. Mollenhauer, K. Singirikonda, and W. Pfaff, Parametrically controlled chiral interface for superconducting quantum devices, Phys. Rev. Applied 22, 064023 (2024).
• A. Irfan, M. Yao, A. Lingenfelter, X. Cao, A. A. Clerk, and W. Pfaff, Loss Resilience of Driven-Dissipative Remote Entanglement in Chiral Waveguide Quantum Electrodynamics, Phys. Rev. Research 6, 033212 (2024).
• A. Lingenfelter, M. Yao, A. Pocklington, Y.-X. Wang, A. Irfan, W. Pfaff, and A. A. Clerk, Exact Results for a Boundary-Driven Double Spin Chain and Resource-Efficient Remote Entanglement Stabilization, Phys. Rev. X 14, 021028 (2024).
• D. de Jong, C. G. Prosko, L. Han, F. K. Malinowski, Y. Liu, L. P. Kouwenhoven, W. Pfaff. Controllable Single Cooper Pair Splitting in Hybrid Quantum Dot Systems. Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 157001 (2023).
• D. de Jong, C. G. Prosko, D. M. A. Waardenburg, L. Han, F. K. Malinowski, P. Krogstrup, L. P. Kouwenhoven, J. V. Koski, and W. Pfaff. Rapid microwave-only characterization and readout of quantum dots using multiplexed gigahertz-frequency resonators. Phys. Rev. Appl. 16, 014007 (2021).
• C. J. Axline, L. D. Burkhart, W. Pfaff, M. Zhang, K. Chou, P. Campagne-Ibarcq, P. Reinhold, L. Frunzio, S. M. Girvin, L. Jiang, M. H. Devoret, and R. J. Schoelkopf. On-demand quantum state transfer and entanglement between remote microwave cavity memories, Nat. Phys. 14:7, 705-710 (2018).
• M. Reagor, W. Pfaff, C. Axline, R. W. Heeres, N. Ofek, K. Sliwa, E. Holland, C. Wang, J. Blumoff, K. Chou, M. J. Hatridge, L. Frunzio, M. H. Devoret, L. Jiang, and R. J. Schoelkopf. Quantum memory with millisecond coherence in circuit QED. Phys. Rev. B 94, 014506 (2016).
• W. Pfaff, B. J. Hensen, H. Bernien, S. B. van Dam, M. S. Blok, T. H. Taminiau, M. J. Tiggelman, R. N. Schouten, M. Markham, D. J. Twitchen, and R. Hanson. Unconditional quantum teleportation between distant solid-state quantum bits. Science 345:6196, 532-535 (2014).
• H. Bernien, B. Hensen, W. Pfaff, G. Koolstra, M. S. Blok, L. Robledo, T. H. Taminiau, M. Markham, D. J. Twitchen, L. Childress, and R. Hanson. Heralded entanglement between solid-state qubits separated by three meters. Nature, 497: 86 (2013).

Pending Articles

• K. Nie, J. N. Bradford, S. Mandal, A. Bista, W. Pfaff, and A. Kou, Fluxonium as a Control Qubit for Bosonic Quantum Information, arXiv:2505.23641. Under Review at Phys. Rev. X.