Current students

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!

Categories of Kirchoff Relations

Abstract: I will be talking about the connections between electrical circuits and stabilizer qudit quantum circuits with an eye towards applications to qudit quantum error correction. More formally I will be defining a category dubbed Kirchhoff relations and characterize the maps in this category using parity check matrices. I will then go on to give a universal set of generators for this category and interpret these generators in-terms of electrical elements.

This is work in progress.

Impromptu Poster Session

Please join us for the IQC Student Seminar on Wednesday Nov 23 at noon. This week’s seminar will take place in the form of an impromptu poster practice session, where students will discuss interesting research on the whiteboard. This is to encourage students to talk about their work in progress, while practicing communication skills by presenting to non-experts. It's also a great way to learn how big the field of quantum research is! No prior preparation is necessary.

As always, pizza lunch will be provided to attendees.

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.

IQC Student Seminar Featuring - Robbie King, Caltech - ZOOM

It is impossible to solve the local Hamiltonian problem exactly, assuming P is not equal to QMA. Instead, one can ask for approximation algorithms, which output states achieving good energy uniformly across all instances. Semi-definite programming (SDP) has achieved great success in approximation algorithms for classical constraint satisfaction. But how can we round the SDP to an entangled quantum state? Variational quantum algorithms can capture entangled quantum states. ...

Impromptu Poster Session

Please join us for the IQC Student Seminar on Wednesday Nov 16 at noon. This week’s seminar will take place in the form of an impromptu poster session, where students joining will be divided into groups and discuss each other's current work using the whiteboard. This is to encourage students to talk about their work in progress, while practicing communication skills by presenting to non-experts. It's also a great way to learn how big the field of quantum research is!