Bio
Captain Kaitlin Poole is an Instructor in the Department of Physics and Meteorology at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Capt Poole entered the Air Force in 2016 after receiving her commission from Air Force ROTC at Montana State University. She received her Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 2021.
In her first assignment, Capt Poole set up the lasers needed for the first trapped ion experiment and demonstration for quantum networking at AFR/RI in Rome, NY. Most recently, Capt Poole served as the nuclear hardness qualification test lead at the Nuclear Technology & Integration Directorate of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Kirtland AFB, NM.
Education
Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright Patterson AFB, OH (2021)
Bachelors of Science in Physics, Montana State University – Bozeman, MT (2016)
Professional Experience
Instructor, Department of Physics and Meteorology, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado (2023-Present)
Nuclear Hardness Qualification Test Lead, Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Kirtland AFB, NM (2022-2023)
Executive Officer, Nuclear Technology & Integration Directorate, Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Kirtland AFB, NM (2021-2022)
Advanced Projects Team Lead – Air Delivered Systems, Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Kirtland AFB, NM (2021)
Student, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright Patterson AFB, OH (2019-2021)
Quantum Networking Lab Manager, Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome Lab, NY (2017-2019)
Quantum Research Physicist, Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome Lab, NY (2016-2017)
Honors & Awards
Air & Space Force Commendation Medal, with1 Oak leaf cluster
Air Force Achievement Medal with 1 Oak leaf cluster
AFMC Nuclear Deterrence Operations Team of the Year, AFNWC Nuclear Technology and Integration Directorate, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico (2022)
Research and Scholarly Interests
Quantum Networking
Trapped Ions
Lasers & Optics
Electromagnetic Shielding
Publications
Poole, Kaitlin, “A System Level Approach to Modeling the Mission Effects of Communication Between Hypersonic Systems” AFIT Master’s Thesis, 2021, Limited Distribution
Baxter, C; Frey, J; Poole, K; “High Power Microwave Directed Energy Protection for USCG Vessels: Design Research” DEPS Symposium 2020, Limited Distribution
O'Reilly, J., Bell, J., Bogorin, D., Bonenfant, B., Cook, P., Decker, S., Poole, K.,… & Soderberg, K. A. (2019). Towards Using Trapped Ions as Memory Nodes in a Photon-mediated Quantum Network. In APS March Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2019, pp. G70-250).
K. Poole, “Quantum Networking with Trapped Ion Qubits at AFRL” Presented at the 49th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics APS Meeting. Session K04. (May 2018)
B. Tabakov, J. Bell, D. F. Bogorin, B. Bonenfant, P. Cook, L. Disney, T. Dolezal, J. P. O'Reilly, J. Phillips, K. Poole, L. Wessing, K.-A. Brickman-Soderberg, “Towards using trapped ions as memory nodes in a photon-mediated quantum network,” Proc. SPIE 10660, Quantum Information Science, Sensing, and Computation X, 106600L (16 May 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2305058
Englesbe, A., Elle, J., Lucero, A., Poole, K., Domonkos, M., Schmitt-Sody, A., & Krushelnick, K. (2016, June). Radiofrequency electromagnetic pulses generated by ultrafast laser filaments. In 2016 IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS) (pp. 1-1). IEEE.