Phillip Weinberg

Physicist & Scientific Software Engineer · Greater Boston Area

About

I'm a physicist and software engineer at QuEra Computing, where I work on the full compiler pipeline for neutral atom quantum computers — from user-facing DSLs down to hardware execution. My current focus is on the shuttle compiler, developing heuristics for scheduling atom movement inside the hardware to optimize circuit execution. I work at the intersection of application developers and hardware teams to push the real performance of QuEra's machines.

Before joining QuEra, I spent time in academia studying non-equilibrium dynamics of quantum many-body systems, earning my Ph.D. in Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics from Boston University. During that time I co-created QuSpin, a widely-used open-source Python package for exact diagonalization and dynamics of quantum many-body systems, to which I continue to contribute — including an ongoing effort to port the low-level C++ backend to Rust.

Experience

Senior Scientific Software Engineer — QuEra Computing Inc.

Apr 2025 – Present
  • Coordinating the efforts to build and integrate compiler pipeline into software services for supporting QuEra's cloud quantum computing services.
  • Developing extendable compiler framework for integrating multiple heuristics for scheduling atom shuttling inside neutral atom hardware
  • Designing domain specific language for multi-level compilation and programming models
  • Integrating other quantum IR into QuEra's compiler stack

Scientific Software Engineer — QuEra Computing Inc.

Aug 2022 – Apr 2025
  • Built or led the development of several new features for Bloqade.jl including integration with QuEra's analog processor Aquila via AWS Braket service
  • Led the development of bloqade-analog, a Python SDK for programming and running QuEra's analog quantum Aquila
  • Contributed to Kirin and Bloqade-digital, QuEra's compiler infrastructure and circuit SDK
  • Built Bloqade-shuttle, a Kirin based language for programming atom shuttle operations at a low level.

Postdoctoral Researcher — Northeastern University

Mar 2020 – Aug 2022, PI: Adrian Feiguin
  • Mentored 4 students across different research topics
  • Topics ranging from: impurities in graphene for material science applications, novel machine learning methods for calculating spectral functions of quantum many-body systems and the impact of electronic orbital mixing in correlated electronic materials.

Graduate Research Assistant — Boston University

Jul 2014 – Mar 2020, Advisors: Anders Sandvik, Anatoli Polkovnikov
  • Worked on Floquet physics, quantum annealing, and optimal quantum control with machine learning using Quantum Monte Carlo, exact diagonalization, and analytical methods
  • Co-created QuSpin, an open-source Python/C++ package for exact diagonalization and dynamics of quantum many-body systems

Undergraduate Research Assistant — Michigan State University

Jun 2012 – Aug 2013
  • Developed models for strongly correlated electron systems with Prof. Phil Duxbury
  • Worked on stochastic models of phase slips in superconducting nanowires with Prof. Alex Levchenko

Education

Ph.D., Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics — Boston University

2013 – 2020

Advisors: Anatoli Polkovnikov and Anders Sandvik

B.S., Physics — Michigan State University

2009 – 2013

Skills

Programming

  • Rust
  • Python
  • C/C++
  • Julia

Tools & Techniques

  • Compilation
  • Domain Specific Languages
  • Git

Areas of Expertise

  • Quantum Computing
  • Non-equilibrium Dynamics
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Numerical Simulation

Publications

2,334 citations · h-index: 16 · Google Scholar

  1. Experimental demonstration of logical magic state distillation
    P Sales Rodriguez, JM Robinson, PN Jepsen, Z He, C Duckering, C Zhao, et al.
    Nature 645 (8081), 620–625 (2025)
  2. Large-scale quantum reservoir learning with an analog quantum computer
    M Kornjača, HY Hu, C Zhao, J Wurtz, P Weinberg, M Hamdan, A Zhdanov, et al.
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.02553 (2024)
  3. Aquila: QuEra's 256-qubit neutral-atom quantum computer
    J Wurtz, A Bylinskii, B Braverman, J Amato-Grill, SH Cantu, F Huber, et al.
    arXiv preprint arXiv:2306.11727 (2023)
  4. Systematic improvement of neural network quantum states using Lanczos
    H Chen, D Hendry, P Weinberg, A Feiguin
    Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 35, 7490–7503 (2022)
  5. Topological to magnetically ordered quantum phase transition in antiferromagnetic spin ladders with long-range interactions
    L Yang, P Weinberg, A Feiguin
    SciPost Physics 13 (3), 060 (2022)
  6. Chebyshev expansion of spectral functions using restricted Boltzmann machines
    D Hendry, H Chen, P Weinberg, AE Feiguin
    Physical Review B 104 (20), 205130 (2021)
  7. Scaling and diabatic effects in quantum annealing with a D-Wave device
    P Weinberg, M Tylutki, JM Rönkkö, J Westerholm, JA Åström, P Manninen, et al.
    Physical Review Letters 124 (9), 090502 (2020)
  8. QuSpin: a Python package for dynamics and exact diagonalisation of quantum many-body systems. Part II: bosons, fermions and higher spins
    P Weinberg, M Bukov
    SciPost Physics 7, 020 (2019)
  9. Symmetry-enhanced discontinuous phase transition in a two-dimensional quantum magnet
    B Zhao, P Weinberg, AW Sandvik
    Nature Physics 15 (7), 678–682 (2019)
  10. Asymptotic prethermalization in periodically driven classical spin chains
    O Howell, P Weinberg, D Sels, A Polkovnikov, M Bukov
    Physical Review Letters 122 (1), 010602 (2019)
  11. Glassy phase of optimal quantum control
    AGR Day, M Bukov, P Weinberg, P Mehta, D Sels
    Physical Review Letters 122 (2), 020601 (2019)
  12. Symmetry enhanced first-order phase transition in a two-dimensional quantum magnet
    B Zhao, P Weinberg, AW Sandvik
    Nature Physics 15 (2019)
  13. Reinforcement learning in different phases of quantum control
    M Bukov, AGR Day, D Sels, P Weinberg, A Polkovnikov, P Mehta
    Physical Review X 8 (3), 031086 (2018)
  14. Anomalous quantum-critical scaling corrections in two-dimensional antiferromagnets
    N Ma, P Weinberg, H Shao, W Guo, DX Yao, AW Sandvik
    Physical Review Letters 121 (11), 117202 (2018)
  15. Broken symmetry in a two-qubit quantum control landscape
    M Bukov, AGR Day, P Weinberg, A Polkovnikov, P Mehta, D Sels
    Physical Review A 97 (5), 052114 (2018)
  16. QuSpin: a Python package for dynamics and exact diagonalisation of quantum many-body systems. Part I
    P Weinberg, M Bukov
    SciPost Physics 2, 003 (2017)
  17. Machine learning meets quantum state preparation. The phase diagram of quantum control
    M Bukov, AGR Day, D Sels, P Weinberg, A Polkovnikov, P Mehta
    arXiv preprint arXiv:1705.00565 (2017)
  18. Dynamic scaling of the restoration of rotational symmetry in Heisenberg quantum antiferromagnets
    P Weinberg, AW Sandvik
    Physical Review B 96 (5), 054442 (2017)
  19. Universal features of counting statistics of thermal and quantum phase slips in nanosize superconducting circuits
    A Murphy, P Weinberg, T Aref, UC Coskun, V Vakaryuk, A Levchenko, et al.
    Physical Review Letters 110 (24), 247001 (2013)

Honors & Awards