Platforms for Quantum Technologies

14756.2033 Platforms for Quantum Technologies

Date: March 15 to April 1, 2021 (Mon-Fri – block course – exact schedule will be provided soon).

Location: Due to the Corona situation, the course will be offered as an on-line event.

Exam: April 9, 2021 (preliminary date).

Lecturers: Y. Ando (UoC), H. Bluhm (RWTH), M. Müller (FZJ), J. Schmitt (U Bonn).

Contents of the course

  • Basics of quantum information processing: qubits, quantum operations, measurements, circuit model, quantum teleportation, Deutsch and Grover algorithms, quantum error correction
  • AMO (atomic, molecular, optical) platforms: cavity quantum electrodynamics: single photon sources, implementation of phase gates; quantum simulators: gases of cold atoms, optical lattices, ground state and excitation dynamics
  • Solid state platforms: charge and electron spin qubits; superconducting qubits; qubit dynamics and control; decoherence; quantum supremacy
  • Topological platforms: topological insulators and superconductors; braiding; Majorana qubit design; topological surface code
  • Quantum error correction and topological codes

Aims of the course

Recently, elusive concepts of quantum mechanics such as superposition and entanglement – which have long been regarded as curiosities of quantum mechanics with no practical purposes – have become the key elements of several technological applications. These fledgling quantum technologies define a new field of physics and engineering, and may  be roughly structured into quantum communication, quantum sensing, quantum simulations, and, last but not least, quantum computing. This lecture will give an overview of the most promising platforms and first applications, following up on a crisp introduction to the basic theoretical concepts needed for their understanding. The course is organized in the framework of the Cluster of Excellence Matter and Light for Quantum Computing (ML4Q). It is aimed at Master students in Physics with a knowledge in quantum mechanics and basic knowledge of condensed matter physics.

Lecture notes and presentations

Lecture notes, whiteboard contents and presentations of the lectures are available on the internal page.

Requiered pre-readings

Michael Nielsen and Isaac Chuang: Quantum Computation and Quantum Information;  Chapters 2.1 and 2.2  (Cambridge University press, 2010).

M. Sato and Y. Ando, Topological superconductors: a review, Rep. Prog. Phys. 80, 076501 (2017).

Hendrik Bluhm, Thomas Brückel, Markus Morgenstern, Gero Plessen, and Christoph Stampfer, Electrons in Solids: Mesoscopics, Photonics, Quantum Computing, Correlations, Topology (Chapter 3) (De Gruyter, 2019).

J. Alicea, New directions in the pursuit of Majorana fermions in solid state systems, Rep. Prog. Phys. 75, 076501 (2012).