Research
Computational Materials Science
Density functional theory, classical potentials, electronic structure, magnetism, defects, phase stability, low-dimensional materials, and structure-property relationships.
Quantum Information Science & Engineering
Quantum computing, quantum photonics, many-body physics, tensor networks, continuous-variable quantum information, quantum networking, and quantum measurement.
Data Science & Materials Informatics
Materials analytics, data mining, materials design, database comparison, AI-assisted scientific workflows, and computational materials discovery.
Selected Computational Materials Research
- Electronic structure and magnetism.
- Physical and chemical properties of defects.
- Topological materials and quantum computing.
- The effect of intercrystalline water on material properties.
- Low-dimensional materials: clusters, wires, surfaces, interfaces, and bulk solids.
Mahatara, S. and Kiefer, B., “Layer dependent magnetism and topology in monolayer and bilayers ReX3 (X = Br, I),” Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/ac1c2e (2021).
Mahatara, S. and Kiefer, B., “Does beta-PbO2 Harbor Topological States?”, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, DOI: 10.1088/1361-648X/ab79fb (2020).
Steciuk, G., Kiefer, B., Hornfeck, W., Kasatkin, A. V., and Plášil, J., “Molybdenum Disorder in Hydrated Sedovite, Ideally U(MoO4)2, a Microporous Nanocrystalline Mineral Characterized by Three-Dimensional Electron Diffraction, Density-Functional-Theory Computations, and Complexity Analysis,” Inorganic Chemistry, DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.1c01506 (2021).
Plasil, J., Ghazisaeed, S., Kiefer, B., and Philippo, S., “Hydrogen bonding in the crystal structure of phurcalite, Ca2[(UO2)3O2(PO4)2]·7H2O: Single-crystal X-ray study and Torque calculations,” Acta Crystallographica B, DOI: 10.1107/S2052520620005739 (2020).
Ghazisaeed, S., Md, M., Nakotte, H., and Kiefer, B., “DFT predicted symmetry lowering from cubic to tetragonal in Nickel Hexacyanoferrate,” Journal of Applied Crystallography, DOI: 10.1107/S1600576719016492 (2020).
Marquez Chavez, J. and Kiefer, B., “MATCOR, a program for the cross validation of material properties between databases,” Computational Materials Science, DOI: 10.1016/j.commatsci.2020.110103 (2020). MATCOR software.
Quantum Solutions Architecture
From scientific question to decision-ready workflow
My solution-architecture work focuses on translating complex quantum and scientific capabilities into usable technical workflows: clarifying the problem, identifying constraints, bounding the solution space, building transparent proofs of concept, validating outputs, and communicating tradeoffs to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
This approach combines more than two decades of computational materials science with quantum computing, quantum photonics, benchmarking, scientific software, and human-guided AI workflows. The goal is not to recommend quantum by default, but to identify where quantum, classical, or classical-plus-AI methods provide the most credible path.
Solutions Architecture Resume View Public Simulator PortfolioSimulators and Research Software
Open-source physics and quantum-science tools
Browse interactive simulators and computational tools for quantum foundations, state preparation, quantum optics and photonics, quantum networking, fault tolerance, materials physics, and applied scientific computing. Many repositories include technical briefs, guided exercises, or other supporting resources.
Browse Simulators & Research SoftwareTeaching & Learning Resources
Mathematics Primers
Quantum Information Science Primers
- Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff Formula
- Fock-State Representations of Coherent and Squeezed Light
- Mean Photon Numbers of Coherent and Squeezed Light States
- Quantum Dynamics
- Quantum States (not yet)
- Quantum Gates (not yet)
- Universality (not yet)
- Discrete Variables (not yet)
- Continuous Variables (not yet)
- Dense Coding (not yet)
- Teleportation (not yet)
Writing & Computing
Other Physics Primers
Quantum Information Science & Engineering
Topics include many-body physics, tensor networks, continuous-variable measurement-based quantum computing, quantum computing, quantum photonics, and quantum information science.
Quantum Computing Projects & Lecture Notes
- Decoherence and Error Mitigation Caused by Environmental Interactions - B. Garcia, Physics, NMSU (2020).
- Material Realization of Topological Quantum Computing - S. Mahatara, Physics, NMSU (2020).
- Quantum Subsystems and Entanglement Characterization, Part 1 - Spring 2020.
- Quantum Subsystems and Entanglement Characterization, Part 2 - Spring 2020.
- Elements of Quantum Computing with Superconducting Qubits - Spring 2021.
- Elements of Quantum Information Science - Spring 2022.
- MS thesis research: “Quantum Telecloning Circuits: Theory & Practice,” B. Garcia, NMSU, Spring 2022.
- Quantum Telecloning on NISQ Computers - E. Pelofske, A. Baertschi, B. Garcia, B. Kiefer, and S. Eidenbenz.