Josh Wager is a third-year physics undergraduate student at Old Dominion University. Originally, he’s from Omaha, Nebraska, and his family settled down in Virginia in 2018. He graduated from Western Branch High School in 2022 before starting his journey at ODU.
“I chose ODU due to its proximity and status as an R1 research institution with a strong physics department specializing in nuclear physics,” said Wager. “My passion for physics began with a fascination for space and a desire to understand how and why the universe operates as it does.”
His enthusiasm for physics has grown even more while at ODU. He has been fortunate enough to find a position in Physics Assistant Professor Matt Gru’s lab and contribute to research in the field of atomic physics. “Specifically in the development of Dr. Matt Grau’s Ion trap by creating a control program to manipulate and stabilize multiple high-powered lasers needed for the ion trap and developing a new ablation-based loading method for the ion trap,” said Wager.
Ion traps use electric fields to levitate single, charged atoms or molecules and hold them nearly motionless at the center of the experiment that Wager is working on with Gru. “Confining ions in this way allows us to measure and manipulate their internal states with high precision,” said Wager. In quantum information science, trapped ions can be used to realize qubits, the fundamental unit of information in a quantum computer. According to Gru, “Trapped ions are ideal for tests of fundamental physics, whereby detecting very small changes in the internal states of atoms or molecules we can find evidence of new particles or forces that could only exist at very high energies.”
Being able to work in Gru’s research lab as an undergraduate has been impactful to Wager. According to Assistant Professor Gru, “Josh is a valuable member of my research team. Our experiment relies on several key pieces of infrastructure that he built. He has also gained the trust of the more senior members of the group. In the words of one of my Ph.D. students: ‘Josh is the only undergraduate student I trust to work on my experiment.’ Overall, I count myself very lucky to have him in the group.”
Taking part in research as an undergraduate has only ignited Wager’s passion for science and has opened more opportunities. “This summer, I gained additional research experience at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, where I expanded my knowledge of physics and acquired new practical skills essential for atomic physics research including beam walking, fiber coupling, laser evaluation, real-time computation, and vacuum systems troubleshooting,” said Wager. “During my time at the Naval Research Laboratory, I worked on two projects: developing a Rubidium based modulation transfer spectroscopy setup for laser frequency stabilization in quantum sensors, and creating a real-time phase estimation system for an atomic matter-wave interferometer used in inertial sensing.”
His internship was originally 10 weeks long, but he made such an impression on the manager that he was given a four-week extension. “I was only able to add an extra week due to prior commitments, so it was a total of 11 weeks,” said Wager. He conducted research at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's main facility in Washington D.C.
“Overall, I believe that ODU is an outstanding institution for studying physics, not only because its relationship with Jefferson Lab provides access to skilled professors and valuable research opportunities, but also because the faculty and the physics department are deeply committed to supporting students throughout their academic journey," said Wager.