Dr. Kristin (Kristi) Beck is a staff scientist working with the LLNL Quantum Coherent Device Physics Group and the director of the Livermore Center for Quantum Science. Her research interests span the quantum computing stack, from device hardware and gate design to testbed architecture. 

Kristi joined LLNL in 2020. Prior to LLNL, Kristi was a senior physicist at the startup quantum computing company IonQ. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Joint Quantum Institute at the University of Maryland in 2018. She received her Ph.D. from MIT in 2016, her M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge in 2010 and her BS. in Physics and B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Rochester in 2009. Her scholarship has been recognized through several fellowships including an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a Winston Churchill Scholarship.

Ph.D. Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2016

M.Phil. Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2010

B.S. Physics; B.A. Mathematics with Honors, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, 2009

Design and fabrication of a micro-ion trap with a 3D-printed loading zone 
for improved hot-ion capture
S. Patra, A. Parakh, X. Xia, J. Biener, H. Häffner, K.M. Beck
arXiv:2605.08502 [physics.atom-ph] (2026)

Superconducting qubit decoherence correlated with detected radiation events
A.R. Castelli, K.M. Beck, L.D.H. Alegria, L.A. Martinez, K.R. Chaves, S.R. O'Kelley, N. Materise, J.L. DuBois, Y.J. Rosen.
arXiv:2512.18171 [quant-ph] (2025)

3D-Printed micro ion trap technology for quantum information applications (popular summary)
S. Xu, X. Xia, Q. Yu, A. Parakh, S. Khan, E. Megidish, B. You, B. Hemmerling, A. Jayich, K. Beck, J. Biener, H. Häffner
Nature 645, 362-368 (2025)

Charge sensitivity in the transmon regime
R. Gonzalez-Meza, V. Iaia, A. Zaman, H. Y. Wong, Y. Cho, K. Beck, Y. J. Rosen
arXiv:2508.03973 [quant-ph] (2025)

Preparing angular momentum eigenstates using engineered quantum walks
Y. Shi, K. M. Beck, V. A. Kruse, S. B. Libby.
Phys. Rev. A. 110, 062214 (2024)

Direct pulse-level compilation of arbitrary quantum logic gates on superconducting qutrits
Y. CHo, K. M. Beck, A. R. Castelli, K. A. Wendt, B. Everet, M. J. Reagor, J. L. DuBois
Phys. Rev. Applied 22, 034066 (2024)

Low-Frequency Correlated Charge-Noise Measurements Across Multiple Energy Transitions in a Tantalum Transmon
D. M. Tennant, L. A. Martinez, K. M. Beck, S. R. O'Kelley, C. D. Wilen, R. McDermott, J. L DuBois, Y. J. Rosen
PRX Quantum 3, 030307 (2022)

One- and two-qubit gate infidelities due to motional errors in trapped ions and electrons
R. T. Sutherland, Q. Yu, K. M. Beck, H. Häffner
Phys. Rev. A 105, 022437 (2022)

Feasibility study of quantum computing using trapped electrons
Q. Yu, A. M. Alonso, J. Caminiti, K. M. Beck, R. T. Sutherland, D. Leibfried, K. J. Rodriguez, M. Dhital, B. Hemmerling, H. Häffner
Phys. Rev. A 105, 022420 (2022)

Benchmarking an 11-qubit quantum computer
K. Wright, K. M. Beck, S. Debnath, J. M. Amini, Y. Nam, N. Grzesiak, J. -S. Chen, N. C. Pisenti, M. Chmielewski, C. Collins, K. M. Hudek, J. Mizrahi, J. D. Wong-Campos, S. Allen, J. Apisdorf, P. Solomon, M. Williams, A. M. Ducore, A. Blinov, S. M. Kreikemeier, V. Chaplin, M. Keesan, C. Monroe, J. Kim
Nature Communications 10, 5464 (2019)

Publications on ORCiD | Google Scholar | arXiv

• Joint Quantum Institute Postdoctoral Fellow, 2016-2018
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, 2009-2014
• Interdisciplinary Quantum Information Science and Engineering (IQuISE) Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Trainee, 2010-2015
• Winston Churchill Scholar, 2009-2010
• Barry M. Goldwater Scholar, 2007

• "Quantum Computing: A Cool Way to Compute the Impossible" Science on Saturday lecture, February 2026
• Physical and Life Sciences "Meet your colleagues" interview, May 2024
• "Meet the Experts" LLNL video profile highlight for Physics Day 2023