Caleb Thompson

Caleb earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Chicago in August 2024. Caleb’s Ph.D. work was done in the laboratory of Professor Steve Sibener. He published papers studying atomic-scale structure, vibrational dynamics, and electron-phonon coupling of niobium surfaces and their oxides. Niobium is the current material of choice for superconducting radio frequency cavities in high-energy particle accelerators around the world. Caleb’s experimental measurements correlated atomic-scale surface structure with electron-phonon coupling, allowing him to connect fundamental surface structure studies to niobium superconducting performance metrics.