BREAD Collaboration Workshop

Name: BREAD Collaboration Workshop
Start: 2026-01-14T08:30:00-05:00
End: 2026-01-16T19:00:00-05:00
Location: Harvard University

14 Jan 2026, 08:30 → 16 Jan 2026, 19:00 US/Eastern

Harvard University

Description

We are excited to host the next BREAD collaboration workshop at Harvard University in January!

Start: Wednesday, January 14, 9am
End: Friday, January 16, 2026, afternoon

Location:
Harvard University Physics Department
Jefferson Lab 256

It was a pleasure having you all here. Please find below the slides you shared with us. We sent around a separate link with the recordings and pictures.

Contact

knirck@fas.harvard.edu

seth_lewis@fas.harvard.edu

Registration

Participants

Wednesday 14 January
- 08:30 → 09:00
  
  Breakfast 30m
- 09:00 → 09:45
  Welcome and Theory
  - 09:00
    
    Welcome and Logistics 15m
    
    Speaker: Stefan Knirck (Harvard University)
    
    welcome-info.pdf
  - 09:15
    
    A Theory Perspective on Axions 30m
    
    Speaker: Prof. Matt Reece
    
    Reece_BREAD_meeting_slides.pdf
- 09:45 → 11:55
  GigaBREAD and GHz Detection
  
  Convener: Morgan Lynn (UChicago / Harvard)
  - 09:45
    
    GigaBREAD Overview 20m
    
    Speaker: Maja Benning (TUM / MPP / Harvard)
    
    GigaBREAD Overview 2.pdf
  - 10:05
    
    Reflector Mechanical Design and Fridge Integration 25m
    
    Speaker: Alex Buzzi (Harvard)
    
    BREAD Collaboration Meeting - GigaBREAD Mechanical Design.pdf
  - 10:30
    
    Coffee 20m
  - 10:50
    
    KI-TWPAs 25m
    
    Speaker: Dr Corwin Shiu
    
    shiu_ktwpa_overview_pdf.pdf
  - 11:15
    
    J-TWPAs 25m
    
    Speaker: Jennifer Wang (MIT)
  - 11:40
    
    Discussion Time 15m
- 12:00 → 13:00
  
  Lunch 1h
  
  Boxed Lunches Provided
- 13:00 → 15:10
  QualityBREAD, SlicedBREAD and mm-wave amplifiers
  
  Convener: Dr Andrew Sonnenschein (Fermilab)
  - 13:00
    
    QualityBREAD - Simulations, and W-Band Receiver 25m
    
    Speaker: Gabe Hoshino (UChicago)
    
    hoshino_quality_bread.pdf
  - 13:25
    
    SlicedBREAD - Idea and Sensitivity 20m
    
    Speaker: I-see Jaidee (Harvard)
    
    SlicedBREAD_CollabMeeting-1.pdf
  - 13:45
    
    SlicedBREAD - First Measurements 20m
    
    [for slides see previous talk]
    
    Speaker: Grant McIntyre (Harvard)
  - 14:05
    
    Dielectric Material Characterization with mm-wave Fabry Perot Cavities 25m
    
    Speaker: Brodi Elwood (Harvard)
    
    01142026_BREAD_collab_QOC_presented (1).pdf
  - 14:30
    
    Dielectric Stack Diplexers and SIS Detectors 25m
    
    Speakers: Dr Edward Tong (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Keara Carter (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)
    
    DielectricStackDiplexersandSIS Detectors_ETongKCarter.pptx
  - 14:55
    
    Discussion 15m
- 15:10 → 15:35
  
  Coffee 25m
- 15:35 → 16:00
  Other Axion Searches
  
  Convener: Prof. David Miller (UChicago)
  - 15:35
    
    Fermilab Axion Cavity Experiment with JPA / transmon qbit 25m
    
    Speaker: Morgan Lynn (UChicago / Harvard)
- 16:00 → 16:50
  Towards a Large-Scale BREAD program
  
  Convener: Prof. David Miller (UChicago)
  - 16:00
    
    Requirements for an Ultimate Axion Search w/ BREAD 20m
    
    Speaker: Stefan Knirck (Harvard University)
    
    knirck_bread_requirements_compressed.pdf
  - 16:20
    
    Magnet & Facility Options 20m
    
    Speaker: Dr Andrew Sonnenschein (Fermilab)
  - 16:40
    
    Discussion 10m
- 17:00 → 18:00
  
  Lab Tours: Group 1
- 17:00 → 18:00
  
  PI Discussions
- 18:00 → 19:55
  
  Dinner & Posters
  
  Harvard Physics Library
Thursday 15 January
- 08:30 → 09:00
  
  Breakfast 30m
- 09:00 → 09:25
  Other Axion Searches
  - 09:00
    
    MADMAX - Update and Single Photon Detection Plans 25m
    
    Speaker: Juan Maldonado (Max Planck Institute for Physics)
    
    January_BREAD_meeting.pptx
- 09:25 → 09:55
  Other Physics Targets for BREAD
  
  Convener: Stefan Knirck (Harvard University)
  - 09:25
    
    Other Physics Targets for BREAD (Broadband, Timing, Directionality) 20m
    
    Speaker: Gabe Hoshino (UChicago)
    
    presentation.pdf
  - 09:45
    
    Discussion 10m
- 09:55 → 12:10
  TeraBREAD and THz Sensing
  
  Convener: Stefan Knirck (Harvard University)
  - 09:55
    
    Transition Edge Sensors 25m
    
    Speaker: Dr Rita Sonka (NASA Goddard (Karwan's group))
    
    20260111_BREAD_Ultra_low_noise_TES_Rita_F_Sonka.pdf
  - 10:20
    
    Coffee 20m
  - 10:40
    
    Dark Photon Search with KIDs 25m
    
    Speaker: Dr Ritoban Basu Thakur (JPL)
    
    JPL_RBT_QFIR2025 (1).pdf
  - 11:05
    
    Cold-Electron Bolometers for broadband sub-cm wave single photon counting (~60GHz) 25m
    
    Speaker: Prof. Karthik Ramanathan (Washington University in St. Louis)
    
    Ramanathan_BREAD_2026_01_15.pdf
  - 11:30
    Josephson Photonics Devices for BREAD 25m
    
    Josephson photonics refers to the physics of Josephson junctions biased at a DC voltage V below the superconducting gap, interacting with electromagnetic radiation. In this regime, Cooper pairs tunnel inelastically through the junction, exchanging their potential energy 2eV with the electromagnetic environment in the form of photons. Because the junction has no inductance in this voltage state, Josephson photonics devices are not limited by the plasma frequency that constrains most Josephson junction technologies to about 30 GHz. This opens the door to much higher operational frequencies.
    
    We are developing two Josephson photonics devices that could be useful for BREAD:
    
    Inelastic Cooper Pair Tunneling Amplifier (ICTA), a linear, quantum-limited amplifier [1]. I will present our latest progress in extending ICTA bandwidth to an octave [2] and discuss our roadmap toward ICTAs operating in the W-band (75 to 110 GHz).
    
    Photon-Number Amplifier, a device multipling the photon number in an incoming mode into n photons in an outgoing mode [3]. Ideally, this process adds no photon noise, enabling detection far below the standard quantum limit. I will share recent experimental results and describe two readout strategies: time-resolved photon counting [4] and spectral resolution.
    
    [1] Near-quantum-limited amplification from inelastic Cooper-pair tunnelling, S. Jebari, F. Blanchet, A. Grimm, D. Hazra, R. Albert, P. Joyez, D. Vion, D. Estève, F. Portier, M. Hofheinz, Nat Electron 1, 223-227.
    
    [2] DC-powered broadband quantum-limited microwave amplifier, N. Nehra, N. Bourlet, A. H. Esmaeili, B. Monge, F. Cyrenne-Bergeron, A. Paquette, M. Arabmohammadi, A. Rogalle, Y. Lapointe, and M. Hofheinz, to appear on arXiv.
    
    [3] Microwave Photon-Number Amplification, R. Albert, J. Griesmar, F. Blanchet, U. Martel, N. Bourlet, M. Hofheinz, Phys. Rev. X 14, 011011 .
    
    [4] Amplification and Detection of Single Itinerant Microwave Photons, L. Danner, M. Hofheinz, N. Bourlet, C. Padurariu, J. Ankerhold, B. Kubala, arXiv:2510.08030v1.
    
    Speakers: Prof. Max Hofheinz (Université de Sherbrooke), Dr Nicolas Bourlet (Université de Sherbrooke)
    
    max-without-backup.pdf
  - 11:55
    
    Discussion 10m
- 12:10 → 12:20
  
  Group Photo
- 12:10 → 13:10
  
  Lunch 1h
  
  Boxed Lunches Provided
- 12:25 → 13:10
  
  Lab Tours: Group 2
- 13:10 → 14:10
  
  Lab Tours: Group 3
- 13:10 → 14:10
  
  PI Discussions
- 14:10 → 16:30
  TeraBREAD and THz Sensing
  
  Convener: Morgan Lynn (UChicago / Harvard)
  - 14:10
    
    SQuAT (Superconducting Quasiparticle-Amplifying Transmons) 25m
    
    Speaker: Dr Alexander Droster (Stanford University/SLAC)
    
    SQUATs first demo Harvard_Droster.pdf
  - 14:35
    
    WIXARD (WIdeband graphene-based aXion dARk matter quantum Detector) for BREAD and MADMAX 20m
    
    Speaker: Prof. Kin Chung Fong (Northeastern University)
    
    BREADwkshop 2026 vD.pdf
  - 14:55
    
    Designing a Graphene Microwave single photon detector 20m
    
    Speaker: Prof. Ethan Arnault (Syracuse University)
  - 15:15
    
    Coffee 10m
  - 15:25
    
    Single Electrons in a Penning Trap as a meV Single Photon Counter for BREAD 25m
    
    Speaker: Prof. Xing Fan (Harvard)
  - 15:50
    
    Axion Dark Matter Detection with Axion Quasiparticles 25m
    
    Speaker: Prof. Suyang Xu (Harvard)
  - 16:15
    
    Discussion 15m
- 16:25 → 20:35
  
  Ice Skating
  
  Kendall Square (Skate Canal District)
Friday 16 January
- 08:30 → 09:00
  
  Breakfast 30m
- 09:00 → 09:20
  Other Physics Targets for BREAD
  - 09:00
    
    Polarized Dark Photon Analysis of GigaBREAD Data 20m
    
    Speaker: Jialin Yu
    
    Jialin Yu BREAD.pdf
- 09:20 → 10:40
  InfraBREAD and Infrared
  
  Convener: Dr Andrew Sonnenschein (Fermilab)
  - 09:20
    
    InfraBREAD - Reflector & SNSPD Chcaracterization 30m
    
    Speaker: Dr Christina Wang (Fermilab)
    
    2026_bread_collaboration_meeting.pdf
  - 09:50
    
    Sub-IR SNSPDs 25m
    
    Speaker: Dip Joti Paul (MIT)
    
    BREAD_workshop_dipjoti_paul (1).pdf
  - 10:15
    
    Powder Haloscope (remote) 25m
    
    Speaker: Prof. Masha Baryakhtar (University of Washington)
    
    BREAD_workshop_pdf.pdf
- 10:40 → 11:00
  
  Coffee 20m
- 11:00 → 12:25
  TeraBREAD and THz Sensing: Beyond Sensing
  
  Convener: Stefan Knirck (Harvard University)
  - 11:00
    
    Photomixer R&D 20m
    
    Speaker: Dr Emily Perry (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) )
    
    Copy of Photomixer R&D_ A cryogenic THz calibration system.pdf
  - 11:40
    
    Fourier Transform Spectrometer Options 25m
    
    Speaker: Dr Ritoban Basu Thakur (JPL)
  - 12:05
    
    Discussion - Options for Frequency Resolution in BREAD 20m
- 12:25 → 12:40
  
  Closeout 15m
  
  Speakers: Dr Andrew Sonnenschein (Fermilab), Stefan Knirck (Harvard University)
- 12:40 → 13:40
  
  Lab Tours: Group 4
- 12:40 → 14:20
  
  Lunch (individual) 1h 40m
- 14:00 → 18:00
  
  Time for Individual Activites / Meetings
- 14:20 → 15:50
  
  Student Session: R&D Forum: Grounding, Vibration, ...