PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Daniel Sank

Also known as Daniel Thomas Sank

Daniel Sank researches quantum AI, with work on superconducting-qubit measurement, optimization algorithms, and error correction. He completed a PhD at UC Santa Barbara and joined Google in 2014, then coauthored research on fast qubit measurement and the quantum approximate optimization algorithm. Later studies examined surface-code error suppression, measurement-induced teleportation, and balanced electromagnetic coupling. In March 2026, a Google patent application named him as a co-inventor on a single-line qubit-control design. As of October 2026, he is part of Google's Quantum AI group, working on measurement hardware, software, and the underlying physics.

Now at
Google
Works
197
Citations
22,106
h-index
68
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2007–2014

    A UCSB PhD

    He studies noise and readout in superconducting quantum bits during his PhD at UC Santa Barbara from 2007 to 2014. He joins Google as a quantum electronics engineer in 2014.

  2. 2014

    Fast qubit measurement

    In 2014, he and coauthors demonstrate simultaneous measurement of four qubits on one superconducting integrated circuit; the fastest reaches 99.8% accuracy in 140 ns.

  3. 2020

    QAOA on Sycamore

    In 2020, he and his collaborators use Google's Sycamore superconducting processor for combinatorial optimization with the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA).

  4. 2022

    Scaling a surface-code qubit

    In a 2022 paper, he and coauthors report that a distance-5 surface-code logical qubit modestly outperforms an ensemble of distance-3 logical qubits.

  5. 2023

    Measurement-induced teleportation

    In 2023, he and collaborators investigate measurement-induced quantum information phases on up to 70 superconducting qubits. Their duality mapping avoids mid-circuit measurement and provides access to effects from entanglement scaling to measurement-induced teleportation.

  6. 2025

    Balanced coupling in circuits

    In a 2025 paper, he and coauthors show that balancing electrical and magnetic components of a resonator drive or coupling can make the rotating-wave approximation exact.

  7. March 2026

    A single-line qubit patent

    In March 2026, a Google patent application names him as a co-inventor on a device with one XYZ control line for XY and Z qubit-control flux biases.

  8. As of October 2026

    Google Quantum AI research

    As of October 2026, he is part of Google's Quantum AI group, where he works on quantum-state measurement hardware, software, and the underlying physics.

Career

  1. Since 2014GoogleQuantum Electronics Engineer

Education

  1. 2014University of California, Santa BarbaraPhD

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Google. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  2. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Google. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  3. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes Google. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.
  4. Google alumni have founded or led 133 other organizations, more than any other AI labIncludes Google. We estimate that alumni of 17 major AI labs went on to found or lead 350 other organizations, including 226 they founded, and we trace 472 career moves directly between 23 labs since 2010.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Daniel Sank research.google. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Martinis Group — People web.physics.ucsb.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Fast Scalable State Measurement with Superconducting Qubits arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Quantum Approximate Optimization of Non-Planar Graph Problems on a Planar Superconducting Processor arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Suppressing quantum errors by scaling a surface code logical qubit arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Measurement-induced entanglement and teleportation on a noisy quantum processor arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Balanced coupling in electromagnetic circuits research.google. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. US20260065117A1 - Single line qubit control - Google Patents patents.google.com. Checked 21 October 2026.