Chris Wilson
Biography
Dr. Christopher Wilson is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo, with a cross-appointment in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
In 2004, Dr. Wilson moved to Sweden to work on a quantum computing project at Chalmers University of Technology, where he and his team began working on superconducting circuits for quantum computing. Around 2007, they realized their research could enable the measurement of virtual photons inside a vacuum. These virtual photons, which are generated and annihilated in pairs, had been theorized to be detectable under specific conditions. Around 40 years prior, it had been suggested that a mirror moving near the speed of light could capture these photons. However, the effect had never been observed due to the challenge of moving a massive object at such high speeds. Dr. Wilson and his team created an electronic 'mirror' that could be moved at one-quarter the speed of light using magnetic fields. This breakthrough allowed them to separate the photon pairs, prevent their annihilation, and convert them into real photons that could be observed.
Dr. Wilson continues his work on quantum information, microwave quantum optics, and nonlinear dynamics at the University of Waterloo. He has received numerous accolades for his research, including the 2012 Wallmark Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy for his work on the Dynamical Casimir Effect (DCE). His groundbreaking work on DCE was named one of the Top 5 Breakthroughs of 2011 by Physics World and earned the #1 Reader's Choice spot on Nature News.
In 2004, Dr. Wilson moved to Sweden to work on a quantum computing project at Chalmers University of Technology, where he and his team began working on superconducting circuits for quantum computing. Around 2007, they realized their research could enable the measurement of virtual photons inside a vacuum. These virtual photons, which are generated and annihilated in pairs, had been theorized to be detectable under specific conditions. Around 40 years prior, it had been suggested that a mirror moving near the speed of light could capture these photons. However, the effect had never been observed due to the challenge of moving a massive object at such high speeds. Dr. Wilson and his team created an electronic 'mirror' that could be moved at one-quarter the speed of light using magnetic fields. This breakthrough allowed them to separate the photon pairs, prevent their annihilation, and convert them into real photons that could be observed.
Dr. Wilson continues his work on quantum information, microwave quantum optics, and nonlinear dynamics at the University of Waterloo. He has received numerous accolades for his research, including the 2012 Wallmark Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy for his work on the Dynamical Casimir Effect (DCE). His groundbreaking work on DCE was named one of the Top 5 Breakthroughs of 2011 by Physics World and earned the #1 Reader's Choice spot on Nature News.
Research Interests
- Superconductivity
- Superconducting Quantum Circuits
- Quantum Computing
- Circuit quantum electrodynamics
- Microwave quantum optics
- Quantum Information
- Nano-electronics
- Quantum memories and interfaces
- Nonlinear dynamics
Education
- 2002, Doctorate Physics, Yale University, U.S.A
- 1996, Bachelor of Science (BS) Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S.A
Teaching*
- ECE 240 - Electronic Circuits 1
- Taught in 2020, 2023
- ECE 405 - Introduction to Quantum Mechanics
- Taught in 2020
- ECE 676 - Quantum Information Processing Devices
- Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022
- ECE 730 - Special Topics in Solid State Devices
- Taught in 2023
- NE 131 - Physics for Nanotechnology Engineering
- Taught in 2021, 2022
- PHYS 762 - Laboratory on Low Temperature Quantum Technology and Nanofabrication
- Taught in 2022, 2023
- PHYS 768 - Special Topics in Quantum Information Processing
- Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022
- QIC 750 - Quantum Information Processing Devices
- Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022
- QIC 862 - Laboratory on Low Temperature Quantum Technology and Nanofabrication
- Taught in 2022, 2023
* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.
Selected/Recent Publications
- Chang, CWS and Forn-Diaz, Pol and Wilson, CM, Quantum optics with nonlinearly coupled superconducting resonators, Bulletin of the American Physical Society, , 2016
- Forn-Díaz, P and García-Ripoll, JJ and Peropadre, B and Yurtalan, MA and Orgiazzi, J-L and Belyansky, R and Wilson, CM and Lupascu, A, Ultrastrong coupling of a single artificial atom to an electromagnetic continuum, arXiv preprint arXiv:1602.00416, , 2016
- Roy, Dibyendu and Wilson, CM and Firstenberg, Ofer, Strongly interacting photons in one-dimensional continuum, arXiv preprint arXiv:1603.06590, , 2016
- Krantz, Philip and Bengtsson, Andreas and Simoen, Michaël and Gustavsson, Simon and Shumeiko, Vitaly and Oliver, WD and Wilson, CM and Delsing, Per and Bylander, Jonas, Single-shot read-out of a superconducting qubit using a Josephson parametric oscillator, Nature communications, , 2016
- Corona-Ugalde, Paulina and Martín-Martínez, Eduardo and Wilson, CM and Mann, Robert B, Dynamical Casimir effect in circuit QED for nonuniform trajectories, Physical Review A, 012519, 2016
In The News
Graduate studies
- Currently considering applications from graduate students. A completed online application is required for admission; start the application process now.