Picture of Mio Poortvliet
Mio in front of the four photon OAM entanglement setup.

About Me

I see the second quantum revolution flourishing into large parts of modern life. In order to mature quantum technologies out of NISQ, a lot of research and development is happening right now, and even more is still needed. It is my goal to contribute to that.

I am experimentally minded with an interest in everything quantum; but most of all I am interested in exploiting quantum control for information purposes. By contributing to quantum technologies I feel like I will contribute to society. This motivates me, however intrinsically I am driven by curiosity and the urge to solve problems.

Next to physics I have an interest in specialty coffee, cooking and bouldering.

I am looking for a PhD position in experimental quantum information.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

The focus in my master's is on research in quantum. My interests are especially in quantum optics and information.

Josephson junctions made by stacking niobium diselenide flakes are successfully produced. The twist angle and strain are responsible for a weak link. Field sweep measurements are taken to characterize these devices. These measurements highlight the importance of the direction of the applied magnetic field. Prompted by this, simulations of the critical current given a possibly disjointed polygonal interface area are presented and compared to measurements.

Research project at the Van der Molen lab.

Innovation in free space optical communication.

Internship at cosine

Highlighted Courses:
  • Quantum optics
  • Theory of condensed matter
  • Introduction to deep learning
  • Honours course - Leiden revisited: social control and social cohesion in insecure times
  • Frontiers of measurement techniques
  • Molecular electronics
  • Condensed matter physics
  • Theory of condensed matter
  • Theory of general relativity
  • Effective field theory
  • Statistical physics a
  • Statistical physics b
  • Quantum theory
  • Quantum information
  • Quantum optics
  • Advanced optics
  • Computational physics
  • Introduction to deep learning
  • Academic and professional skills
  • Honours course - Leiden revisited: social control and social cohesion in insecure times
Theory and experiment in quantum computing.
GPA (Dutch grading system): 8,35.
Final project: In-Phase: quantum phase estimation
Analyzing and modeling problems in order to understand and overcome them.
GPA (Dutch grading system): 8,05.
Thesis: High gain spatial photon correlations; grade 9,5.
Workshop at ICLON to teach the role of teaching assistants at seminars.
My experience at the university of applied science is at the root of my hands-on approach.
foundation degree cum laude
GPA (Dutch grading scale): 8.84
The science and engineering curriculum prepares high school students for technical fields.
cum laude

Skills

In order to measure four photon correlations from a PPKTP crystal I learned to couple fibers with microradian precision. I have shown that I am able to improve existing optical experiments, align set-ups to high precision and perform experimental research.
With the intent of fabricating van der Waals heterostructure devices I learned to design and fabricate contact pads using e-beam lithography. I refined a technique (Castellanos-Gomez et al 2014 2D Mater. 1 011002) for deterministically placing these flakes with micrometer precision to my application.
In order to measure the superconducting devices I produced, I used multiple cryostats and independently prepared and loaded the samples and performed measurements at 1.5K. The measurements happened at room temperature while the device was at low temperature.
For the course "Introduction to Deep Learning" I have designed, implemented and trained various neural networks to solve various tasks. For example, I built an autoencoder that takes an addition or subtraction problem as input and produces the answer as its output. This autoencoder is flexible with regards to the used representation: it can take the input as handwritten digits or a string and can output generated handwritten digits or a string from either input representation.

Experience

Research
At cosine remote sensing I am exploring novel ways of sending classical information through free space optical channels.
As a research assistant in Wolfgang Löffler's lab, at Leiden University, I worked on a four photon SPDC experiment to gather data supporting the theory I worked out in my bachelor project.
Education
I supported first year students in weekly tutor sessions as well as being a teaching assistant for the practical course 'Physics Experiments'.
In multi-day courses high school students are prepared for their state exams. I helped students with their physics and mathematics b exams.
Miscellaneous
I tutored high school students privately and via tutoring agencies. Next to this I also gave exam training via Lyceo. These jobs taught me to explain maths and physics in an accessible manner.
Working as a barista at Doppio Espresso sparked my love for coffee. What I enjoyed most at this job were the interactions with guests at the espresso bar.
My responsibilities consisted of stocking the produce department as well as closing the fresh product departments.

Extracurricular activities

Together with Jonathan Pelgrim, we are organizing a discussion evening on the impact of the second quantum revolution on society. This event is in the future, you can still join! Find out more here.
The quantum future academy is an event involving selected students from Quantum Flagship countries. We visited many institutes, universities and companies who showed us applications of quantum in sensing, computing and communication. Additionally we enjoyed networking opportunities and we pitched quantum technologies to Germany's minister of education, Bettina Stark-Watzinger.
The focus of this summer school was entrepreneurial opportunities in space. I participated in the business project, where we pitched a company that would detect gas leaks using space-based, open access, earth observation data.
At the resident committee of Campus Leidsche Schans I was the secretary and vice-chairman over a year-long period between 2019 and 2020 where I was responsible for maintaining contact with the municipality and related organizations as well as resident committees of surrounding neighbourhoods. The mission of the residents committee is to increase livability on campus Leidsche Schans. I contributed that by writing a critical report about the laundry facilities. In response the housing cooperation increased capacity.

De Leidsche Flesch is the study association for physics, maths, astronomy and various computer sciences at Leiden University. By participating in committees I learned to work in a team, apply structure to challenges and gained organizational skills.

Additionally, I founded a sub-association called `Beste Reizigers' which mission it is to increase and sustain an explicitly inclusive environment in the study association. The name is a nod to how the Dutch railways address their travelers.

  • Beste Reizigers
  • Photography
  • DJ
  • Freshman weekend (2022)
  • Master's (2021)
  • Freshman weekend (2020)
  • AIVD Christmas Puzzle (2019)
  • Inter(national) holidays (2019)
  • Sibling day (2018)
  • Excursion (2018)
  • Party (2018)

Languages

Dutch is my native language, so I speak and write Dutch. But honestly, barely.
I am proficient at English, especially my scientific vocabulary.

Computer skills

LaTeX is the standard for typesetting of equations. I can do it well enough to write down what I need to.
With experience in my studies as well as personal interest I am quite proficient at Python. Some projects are on my GitHub page, though lots of code are tied to research project and only exist on private networks.
In the various committees I was involved in I often took design tasks upon myself. As a result I have basic skills in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and After Effects.

Interests

In the era of Big Data we better use it to our advantage (and good!). By building a web scraper I tracked laundry room use in the appartment complex I lived at the time. My conclusion was that there was not enough capacity and the housing corporation increased it in response. The report can be found on my blog.
I know how to google well enough to make this site using html, css and bootstrap. I don't particularly like (front end) web development but I recognize it as an important skill in the modern environment; especially if I want to contribute to a quantum internet.
Just before 2021 I bought a mid-range DLSR camera and tried taking some pictures. You can see my favorite ones here.
Making coffee is a science. I am interested in scientific developments in making coffee and try to replicate them in order to make my morning brew negligibly better. Some of my favorite resources are The Physics of Filter Coffee book and blog by Jonathan Gagné and the seminal paper on espresso extraction by Cameron et al.

In the summer of 2022 I had the opportunity to bike to the Quantum Future Academy in Berlin. After being inspired by YouTube videos such as "a bivvy, a phone and a drone" or "two years on a bike," I took two weeks to pedal roughly 1000 km from Leiden to Berlin. The summer is barely over and I am already craving to do something like this again.

Bouldering is like climbing, but without the height or the ropes. Because of the low barrier of entry it rose in popularity in the last years. In 2017 I started bouldering with some new friends from my study. Since then I have been on multiple trips to go bouldering outdoors, besides going bouldering indoor as often as my schedule allows.

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miopoortvliet@gmail.com

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Leiden, the Netherlands

About

This is Mio Poortvliet's personal website. It acts as a resume as well as a place to share passion projects with the world.

Socials

Connect with me on LinkedIn.