PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Johannes Majer

Johannes Majer is a quantum physicist who builds hybrid systems that couple superconducting circuits to electron spins in diamond. After a physics diploma at ETH Zurich in 1997 and a PhD at TU Delft in 2002, he joined Rob Schoelkopf's group at Yale, where the study of superconducting qubits coupled to a cavity led to circuit quantum electrodynamics. His 2007 Nature paper on coupling superconducting qubits via a cavity bus was featured on the cover of its issue, and in 2009 he coauthored a Nature paper showing simple computations on a two-qubit superconducting processor. At TU Wien, his team coupled microwaves to diamond in 2011, reported the cavity protection effect in 2014 and observed superradiant emission from nitrogen-vacancy centres in 2018. Since 2020, he is a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China, where he leads an effort in hybrid quantum systems.

Timeline

  1. 1997–2002

    Physics at ETH and Delft

    He earns a physics diploma at ETH Zurich in 1997. At TU Delft he works under Hans Mooij and receives his PhD in 2002 with the thesis "Superconducting Quantum Circuits".

  2. 2004

    Circuit QED at Yale

    After his PhD, he joins Rob Schoelkopf's group at Yale, where the team studies superconducting qubits and their coupling to a cavity, which leads to the new field of circuit quantum electrodynamics. He is among the authors of the 2004 Nature paper "Strong coupling of a single photon to a superconducting qubit using circuit quantum electrodynamics".

  3. 2007–2008

    Coupling qubits via a cavity bus

    In 2007, he is first author of the Nature paper "Coupling superconducting qubits via a cavity bus", which is featured on the cover of its issue. In March 2008, he gives an invited talk at the APS March Meeting from Yale's Applied Physics department, showing how a cavity acts as a coupling bus between two qubits and transfers quantum states between them.

  4. 2009

    Computing on superconducting chips

    In 2009, working from the Atominstitut of TU Wien, he coauthors the Nature paper "Demonstration of two-qubit algorithms with a superconducting quantum processor" with Yale colleagues. In Schoelkopf's group at Yale, he and colleagues couple two quantum states on a chip and run simple computations, which shows that quantum computing on superconducting chips works.

  5. 2011

    Microwaves coupled to diamond

    In 2011, his research team at the Atominstitut of TU Wien couples microwaves to the quantum states of a diamond. A microwave resonator provides fast operations and nitrogen defects in the diamond store quantum states, and the work appears in Physical Review Letters.

  6. 2014

    The cavity protection effect

    In 2014, his team at the Atominstitut of TU Wien publishes the cavity protection effect in Nature Physics. In a hybrid system of a microwave resonator and nitrogen-vacancy spins in diamond, strong collective coupling to the resonator keeps the spins in step much longer and so extends the storage time of quantum information.

  7. 2018

    Superradiance in diamond

    In 2018, he coauthors "Superradiant emission from colour centres in diamond" in Nature Physics. The experiment couples a lumped element resonator to an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centres and observes a superradiant pulse emitted a trillion times faster than the decay of a single centre.

  8. Since 2020

    Professor at USTC

    In 2020, he starts a new lab at the Division of Quantum Physics and Quantum Information of the University of Science and Technology of China, where he is Professor (Research) based in Shanghai. He leads an effort in hybrid quantum systems that couples superconducting quantum circuits to spin systems such as nitrogen-vacancy defects in diamond. In December 2025, he is a coauthor of a preprint on strong coupling among a superconducting transmon qubit, a coplanar-waveguide resonator and an ensemble of NV centres in diamond.

Career

  1. Since 2020University of Science and Technology of ChinaProfessor (Research)

Education

  1. 2002Delft University of TechnologyPhD
  2. 1997ETH ZurichPhysics diploma

From the biography.

  1. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorateIncludes University of Science and Technology of China. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorate. Across 2,116 people with both an undergraduate degree and a doctorate recorded, we trace which undergraduate schools feed which doctoral programs, how often students stay at the same school, and how paths differ by birth-country region.
  2. 44% of AI career moves go from one university to anotherIncludes University of Science and Technology of China. We estimate how 26,439 AI career moves link universities, companies, labs, nonprofits and government research centers, with decade counts, net flows and the top paths.
  3. 11% of AI doctorate holders from 2010 to 2016 founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduationIncludes University of Science and Technology of China. We estimate how often AI doctorate holders founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduation, how waiting times compare between founders and top jobs, and which universities trained the most.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Science and Technology of China. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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  1. Homepage of Johannes Majer majer.ch. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. IAS Center for Quantum Technologies Seminar Series - Hybrid Quantum Systems: Coupling Diamond Color Centers to Superconducting Cavities | School of Science - The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology science.hkust.edu.hk. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Johannes Majer | Division of Quantum Physics and Quantum Information quantum.ustc.edu.cn. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Circuit QED: Coupling Superconducting Qubits via a Cavity Bus on a Chip - 2008 APS March Meeting PostDeadline meetings-archive.aps.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Physiker bauen supraleitende Quanten-Computerchips | TU Wien tuwien.at. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Diamant als Quantenspeicher | TU Wien tuwien.at. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. "Cavity Protection Effect" macht Quanteninformation langlebig | TU Wien tuwien.at. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. Superradiant emission from colour centres in diamond | Nature Physics nature.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  9. [2512.13129] Genuine Tripartite Strong Coupling in a Superconducting-Spin Hybrid Quantum System arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.