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Postdoctoral Researcher – Quantum Devices and Experiments (NST)
Posted Jul 24, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026
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Likely interview questions for this role
Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.
About your past
Tell me about a microwave or optical device you characterized. What did the data show that you didn't expect?
What they are checking: Whether they have hands-on measurement experience and learn from surprises.
Tell me about working with outside collaborators, such as at a university.
What they are checking: Whether they can work well with Argonne, UChicago and external partners.
How do you share credit and responsibility on a team project?
What they are checking: Whether they model teamwork and integrity, values the posting names.
What would you do
Your qubit's T1 dropped after a new fab run. How do you figure out why?
What they are checking: Whether they can trace problems back through fabrication and measurement steps.
What device would you most want to build here, and why?
What they are checking: Whether they bring their own ideas to the project.
About the work
How would you design a microwave-to-optical transducer, and what limits its efficiency today?
What they are checking: Whether they understand the main approaches and bottlenecks for quantum transduction.
What role do transducers play in a heterogeneous quantum network?
What they are checking: Whether they understand how superconducting qubits connect to optical networks.
Walk me through how you'd fabricate a superconducting qubit in a cleanroom. Which steps affect coherence most?
What they are checking: Whether they understand how fabrication choices like surfaces and junctions affect qubit quality.
How does optical pump light cause trouble for superconducting devices, and how would you reduce it?
What they are checking: Whether they know about quasiparticle generation and heating in transducers.
How would you set up an experiment to entangle two nodes across a network?
What they are checking: Whether they understand network quantum experiments, not just single devices.
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As published by Argonne National Laboratory.