News
Meet Tales Rick Perche, recipient of a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship
Tales Rick Perche sees his research at the University of Waterloo as part of his lifelong search for truth.
IQC’s Benjamin MacLellan awarded Vanier Graduate Scholarship
The Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) is proud to congratulate Benjamin MacLellan, a PhD student in IQC and Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo, for being selected as a Vanier Scholar this year.
Investigating the impact of a laser’s noise property on qubits
When Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) Research Associate Matthew Day had his lab temporarily closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the experimentalist found himself at some loose ends. What’s an experimentalist to do without his equipment? For Day, it was a chance for him to ask questions he’d been thinking about for a while. Specifically, Day wanted to know: how does equipment in the lab affect experiments?
Events
IQC Student Seminar featuring Fiona Thompson
Introduction to Majorana Topological Qubits
Abstract: This presentation will introduce some of the experimental approaches to building topological qubits and the theories supporting current research. Beginning from the early toy models that first proposed the formation of Majorana bound states, I aim to convey an understanding of why topological qubits are so resistant to decoherence. I will introduce the “ingredients” necessary to build a Majorana device and some of the challenges involved. Finally, I will discuss the field's current state and what might be next on the journey to making topological quantum computing a reality. Neither an understanding of topology nor quantum algorithms are necessary to enjoy this talk!
Lower bounding the description complexity of quantum states
IQC Math and CS Seminar on ZOOM - Featuring Chinmay Nirkhe - IBM
Quantum states wear many hats in quantum information: they simultaneously generalize distributions from classical complexity theory, describe quantum mechanical phenomena, and capture the complexity of quantum computation. This myriad of roles makes understanding the complexity of quantum states a central question in quantum complexity theory. In this talk, we will explore the complexity of classically describing physically relevant quantum states. ...
Complexity and Clarity for Kitaev Candidate Materials
Chemistry Seminar Series – Steve Winter, Wake Forest University
Host: A. Wei Tsen
Quantum materials represent a broad class of systems whose experimental response relies directly on entanglement between their underlying degrees of freedom. Modeling of such materials presents a variety of challenges related to a disparate variety of complex behaviours that manifest at different energy scales, and a typical sensitivity of responses to model parameters. In this field, first-principles approaches often provide a vital bridge between experiments and theoretical models. In this talk, I will introduce our numerical strategies for systematically building low-energy models with local charge, spin, and orbital degrees of freedom of arbitrary complexity. I will discuss the insights that these methods have yielded for frustrated magnetic insulators collectively known as "Kitaev materials", which have prompted a recent explosion of interest in quantum magnets where spin-orbit coupling induces strongly anisotropic and competing magnetic interactions. I will specifically address our recent attempts to understand the magnetic models of few-layer RuCl3 and high-spin d7 Co(II) compounds, which have recently been identified as possible alternative platforms for realising the celebrated Kitaev model.
