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Megan Thompson

For as long as she can remember, Megan Thompson wanted to study something science related. Fast forward to her senior year as a double-major in physics and math at С���� Boulder, she is fully immersed in the sciences and has found her passion—precision time measurement.

The path that led her to time metrology and precision time measurement was shaped by several pivotal moments, each bringing her closer to the research field she enjoys today. 

In middle school, Thompson considered studying aerospace engineering but soon realized she was more interested in the physics behind how everything works.

In high school, she participated in a Saturday morning lecture series hosted by Fermilab. “They had different experimentalists and theorists talk about their research, and that’s when it hit me. I remember thinking ‘that’s what I want to do,’” she says.

After applying to several universities, Thompson chose С���� Boulder—and now feels very lucky she did. Growing up in Colorado and with family ties to С���� Boulder, she was familiar with the campus. But, as she recalls, “I had no idea how good the physics program was until I actually came to С���� Boulder.”

Quantum Scholars sparks an interest

During her freshman year, Thompson attended the Physics and Quantum Career & Internship Fair. There, she spoke with Professor Noah Finkelstein at the Quantum Scholars booth, which sounded like an ideal way to explore different areas of physics and quantum.

“Quantum Scholars seemed like an amazing opportunity to meet people with similar passions and learn more about a field I was interested in,” says Thompson.

She applied and was accepted to the program. Thompson was awarded the Jennifer Turner-Valle Scholars Fellowship, established in honor of the late Dr. Jennifer Turner-Valle, an engineering physics alumna. Thompson said Dr. Turner-Valle’s legacy as a teacher, role model and mentor in the fields of optical engineering and business was inspirational.

At one of the Quantum Scholars meetings, Professor Scott Diddams gave a talk on metrology and precision measurement that sparked Thompson’s interest. She realized that was the research field she wanted to pursue.

Time for research

In spring 2024, thanks in part to connections made by her Academic Advisor Claudia Numan and Professor John Cumalat, Thompson began working on precision time measurement research with Judah Levine, professor adjoint of physics and fellow of JILA and NIST.

A storied scientist with a long legacy in time and frequency, Levine joined what was then known as the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in 1969. It was later renamed the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the 1980s. He worked for many years on developing methods for comparing clocks that are only linked by noisy and unreliable channels.

Though Levine is semi-retired, he remains active in the research community—mentoring students, advising on policy, and conducting research. He is currently working on how to connect clocks on the Moon and eventually on Mars, with the existing reference systems on Earth. Early on, Thompson says Levine gave her a stack of papers to read. She pored over them and now meets with him weekly as he continues to guide her research.

“The methods of combining clocks make use of algorithms and statistical methods that are not part of the undergraduate physics curriculum,” says Levine. “Megan has learned to speak a language that is very different from the language heard in the undergraduate physics laboratories.”

Thompson works with a clock ensemble—a series of 32 clocks at NIST. Using computational physics, she analyzes the noise stability of atomic clocks and works to characterize all of the clocks in the ensemble as one entity.

Her work involves modifying an algorithm to estimate the state of a dynamic system from a series of noisy measurements, with the goal of minimizing the variance of estimation error.

“In timekeeping, it’s important to have something as stable and as predictable as possible,” says Thompson. “Without timescales, GPS and cell phones wouldn’t work, and a lot of modern infrastructure would fall apart without the precise understanding of time.”

Levine adds, “apart from the numerous practical applications, the proposed re-definition of the length of the second in terms of an optical-transition frequency depends fundamentally on ensemble techniques that can transform the optical frequency into a lower frequency that can be used in conventional applications.”

Thompson’s next big task? Creating a modified version of the Kalman time scale.

Thompson is currently writing her senior honors thesis on this research, which she plans to defend before graduating this spring.

Reflecting on Quantum Scholars

“I’ve loved being able to learn about the different disciplines of quantum science and engineering from leaders in the field. I wouldn’t have found my current area of interest without Quantum Scholars,” she says.

Quantum Scholars not only helped Thompson find her research area, it also connected her to a community of students pursuing similar interests. As a member of the first cohort, she’s seen the program flourish over the last few years. Thompson says, “I really like the community that’s been built. It’s helped me meet more of my peers.”

Thompson is currently mentoring a younger student through the program’s Alice and Bob mentoring initiative. She also participated in the program’s hackathon during her sophomore year, where her team won first place!

Advice for future students & what’s next

Her top advice for future students? “Go to your professors’ office hours if you can!”

She also highly recommends connecting with academic advisors and faculty when looking for a research position. “Those connections can really help. Even if they’re not in the research field you’re interested in, they can point you in the right direction,” she adds.

After graduating this spring, Thompson plans to pursue a PhD in physics, focusing on optical metrology theory.