Location
Havener Center, Miner Lounge / Wiese Atrium, 1:30pm-3:30pm
Start Date
4-1-2026 1:30 PM
End Date
4-1-2026 3:30 PM
Presentation Date
April 1, 2026; 1:30pm-3:30pm
Description
Hydrogen is known to be the culprit of electron decoherence in Josephson junctions, greatly affecting the performance of superconducting quantum circuits. For Al/AlOx interfaces, the challenge is two-fold: 1) similar Al-Al and Al-H bond strength promotes bond switching and, hence, facilitates vigorous H motion; whereas 2) oxygen has only a slight preference to form Al-O rather than H-O bond, implying that (meta)stable Al--O-H are likely to occur, especially in a disordered oxide. In this project, ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are employed to generate the atomistic models of Al2O3-x with oxygen vacancy defects and to quantify the H diffusion, bonding preferences and thermal stability. For this, statistically-significant ensembles of H-doped amorphous Al2O3-x configurations are investigated to determine the hydrogen passivation efficiency and to identify possible metastable H defects.
Biography
Lana Herkenhoff is a senior pursuing a degree in Physics with an emphasis in Education. She is currently in her final semester, in which she is student teaching high school physics courses. Her hobbies include solving Rubik’s cubes, doing any fiber art she can get her hands on, and watching anime. She plans to continue to pursue research in condensed matter physics, particularly in disordered materials. Her long term goal is to become a professor and guide more students towards the study of physics through engaging and accessible instruction.
Meeting Name
2026 - Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference
Department(s)
Physics
Document Type
Poster
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
event
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2026 The Authors, All rights reserved
Included in
The structure of amorphous AlOx and its role in H distribution and dynamics
Havener Center, Miner Lounge / Wiese Atrium, 1:30pm-3:30pm
Hydrogen is known to be the culprit of electron decoherence in Josephson junctions, greatly affecting the performance of superconducting quantum circuits. For Al/AlOx interfaces, the challenge is two-fold: 1) similar Al-Al and Al-H bond strength promotes bond switching and, hence, facilitates vigorous H motion; whereas 2) oxygen has only a slight preference to form Al-O rather than H-O bond, implying that (meta)stable Al--O-H are likely to occur, especially in a disordered oxide. In this project, ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are employed to generate the atomistic models of Al2O3-x with oxygen vacancy defects and to quantify the H diffusion, bonding preferences and thermal stability. For this, statistically-significant ensembles of H-doped amorphous Al2O3-x configurations are investigated to determine the hydrogen passivation efficiency and to identify possible metastable H defects.
Comments
Advisor: Julia E. Medvedeva, juliaem@mst.edu