Kai here. Curly-haired fellow in the picture above. This website houses my academic/research information, as well as other personal ruminations.
Academically, I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford in the group of Raghavendra Srinvias and Christopher J. Ballance, researching quantum information processing in arrays of single trapped ions addressed by electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields. I am broadly interested in the interaction between light and matter, bottlenecks to that interaction, and how to engineer solutions. I hold a PhD in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where I worked in the group of Virginia O. Lorenz, studying quantum optics — how to build better quantum photonic sources, how to engineer better photonic quantum memories, and lots of other quantum stuff. I am a strong advocate for inclusion and belonging, or whatever it's called nowadays: during my graduate work, I was the Grievance Officer and Lead Negotiator for the Graduate Employees' Organization, one of the largest labor unions for graduate students in the U.S.; I was a founding member of the Open Quantum Initiative, an undergraduate fellowship for minoritized students in quantum science, and served on its advisory committee for two years; and I founded the Illinois Physics Excellence in Outreach, Service, and Diversity Award, among other outreach and service activities detailed in my CV. I received my undergraduate degree from Oberlin College, a small liberal arts college in rural Ohio, where I received Highest Honors in Physics and Philosophy. In undergrad I researched isotopic hydrogen adsorption and separation in metal-organic frameworks, with Stephen A. Fitzgerald.
K. Shinbrough, S. E. Thomas, D. M. Lucas, G. Araneda, Multiparameter Optimization of a 87Rb Photonic Quantum Buffer for 88Sr+ Quantum Networks (2026). Manuscript in preparation.
D. J. Webb, I. R. Øvergaard, K. Shinbrough, O. Băzăvan, S. Saner, C. J. Ballance, R. Srinivas, Revealing Spatially Correlated Errors through Symmetry in Parallel Single-Qubit Randomised Benchmarking (2026). Manuscript in preparation.
K. Shinbrough, D. J. Webb, I. R. Øvergaard, O. Băzăvan, S. Saner, C. J. Ballance, R. Srinivas, Applications of Spin-Dependent Generalized Squeezing in Hybrid Spin-Oscillator Quantum Processors, arXiv:2608.04197 (2026). Manuscript under review at PRX Quantum.
A. Fischer, N. T. Arnold, C. P. Lualdi, K. Ortiz, M. Gehl, P. Davids, K. Shinbrough*, N. T. Otterstrom*, Frequency-time multiplexing for near-deterministic generation of N-photon frequency-bin states, arXiv:2603.03576 (2026). Manuscript in press at Phys. Rev. A
K. Kapoor, S. Hoseini, J. Choi, B. E. Nussbaum, Y. Zhang, K. Shetty, C. Skaar, M. Ward, L. Wilson, K. Shinbrough, E. Edwards, R. Wiltfong, C. P. Lualdi, O. Cohen, P. G. Kwiat, and V. O. Lorenz, Public quantum network: The first node, Appl. Phys. Lett. 126, 054002 (2025). DOI: 10.1063/5.0241562.
Publications in graduate school:
K. Shinbrough, D. R. Pearson Jr., V. O. Lorenz, and E. A. Goldschmidt, Lineshape optimization in inhomogeneous Λ-type quantum memory, arXiv:2405.14013 (2024).
K. Shinbrough, Better pay for grad students, Phys. Today 76, 10 (2023). DOI: 10.1063/PT.3.5262.
K. Shinbrough, T. Loveridge, B. D. Hunt, S. Park, K. Oolman, T. O. Reboli, J. G. Eden, V. O. Lorenz, High-Efficiency, high-speed, and low-noise photonic quantum memory, arXiv:2309.00969 (2023). Manuscript under review at Science Advances.
K. Shinbrough, D. R. Pearson Jr., B. Fang, E. A. Goldschmidt, and V. O. Lorenz, Broadband Quantum Memory in Atomic Ensembles, Adv. At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 72, 297 (2023). Invited Chapter. DOI: 10.1016/bs.aamop.2023.04.001.
K. Shinbrough and V. O. Lorenz, Variance-based sensitivity analysis of Λ-type quantum memory. Phys. Rev. A 107, 033703 (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.107.033703.
K. Shinbrough, B. D. Hunt, and V. O. Lorenz, Optimization of Broadband Λ-type Quantum Memory Using Gaussian Pulses, Phys. Rev. A 103, 062418 (2021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.103.062418.
K. Shinbrough, Y. Teng, B. Fang, V. O. Lorenz, and O. Cohen, Photon-matter quantum correlations in spontaneous Raman scattering, Phys. Rev. A 101, 013415 (2020). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.101.013415.
Y. Zhang, R. Spiniolas, K. Shinbrough, B. Fang, O. Cohen, and V. O. Lorenz, Dual-pump approach to photon-pair generation: demonstration of enhanced characterization and engineering capabilities, Opt. Express 27, 19050 (2019). DOI: 10.1364/OE.27.019050.
S.A. FitzGerald, K. Shinbrough, K. Rigdon, J.L.C. Rowsell, M.T. Kapelewski, S.H. Pang, K.V. Lawler, and P.M. Forster, Temperature-programmed desorption for isotope separation in nanoporous materials, J. Phys. Chem. C 122, 1995 (2018). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b11048.
S.A. FitzGerald, C.T. Eckdahl, C.S. McDonald, J.N. Nelson, K. Shinbrough, H.W.H. Lai, and J.L.C. Rowsell, Orientational ortho−H2 pair interactions in the microporous framework MOF-5, Phys. Rev. B 92, 134304 (2015). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.92.134304.
My undergraduate thesis can be found here: Undergrad_Thesis.pdf, and online at the
Personally, I enjoy long-distance backpacking, woodworking, co-operative living, social activism (see, e.g., Physics Grad Student Pay Survey), reading, and philosophy. I care deeply about social issues (racial justice, union rights, gun control, scientific-literacy, among others) and believe that direct action is a necessary part of democracy. In 2018, I had the opportunity to express a small part of this view in an OSA (Optical Society of America) member video, included below:
This site is hosted by IONOS, which has been a reasonably nice web host. TheSiteWizard has been an invaluable resource to my html/css learning, and I'd be remiss if I didn't credit them for it. The html/css for this website was put together using the Brackets editor.
Kai Shinbrough