Future graduate students

Fabrication and Growth of 111 SiNWs for Mechanical Spin-Detection

Pardis Sahafi, Institute for Quantum Computing

In our group, vertical Si nanowires grown on a 111 surface are used for force detection in nanoscale NMR and ESR. These measurements require a very long (20 µm) and minimally tapered vertical Si nanowires, to be used as nano-mechanical oscillators with a high quality factor (Q ~ 10⁴).

Alexander Belovs, University of Latvia

This talk reflects on recent research in progress with Andras Gilyen. Over the years, there have been a number of papers dealing with quantum algorithms testing some properties of classical probability distributions. Our goal is to understand what is the right way for quantum algorithms to access the distribution. There is a number of possible models, and we analyse their mutual strength.

IQC and the Department of Physics at the University of Waterloo welcome Shahpoor Moradi, University of Calgary

Quantum computation has been developed as a computationally efficient paradigm to solve problems that are intractable with conventional classical computers. Quantum computers have the potential to support the simulation and modeling of many complex physical systems, not just quantum ones, significantly more rapidly than conventional supercomputers.

Frederic Magniez, Université Paris Diderot

We describe a new quantum paradigm, that we call Quantum Chebyshev’s inequality, to approximate with relative error the mean of any random variable with a number of quantum samples that is linear in the ratio of the square root of the variance to the mean. Classically the dependency is quadratic. To illustrate this method, we apply it to the approximation of frequency moments in the multi-pass streaming model, and to the approximation of the number of edges and triangles in the quantum graph query access model.

Spontaneous Raman emission in cold atoms inside a hollow-core waveguide

Taehyun Yoon, Institute for Quantum Computing

Cold atoms confined inside hollow-core waveguides enable strong-matter interactions, thus offer a unique platform for studies of quantum and non-linear optics. We developed an experimental system that traps cesium atoms in a magneto optical trap (MOT) and loads these atoms into a hollow core photonic crystal fiber using a dipole trap at cesium magic wavelength (935 nm), which removes the AC-Stark shift of the optical transition and suppresses the inhomogeneous broadening.

Crafting high-dimensional tools for photonic quantum networks with tailored nonlinear optics

John Donohue, Institute for Quantum Computing

The time-frequency degree of freedom of light offers an intrinsically high-dimensional encoding space which is naturally compatible with waveguide devices and fiber infrastructure. However, coherent manipulation and measurement the information-carrying modes presents a challenge due to the sub-picosecond timescales inherent to downconversion-based photon sources. In this talk, I will discuss methods based on ultrafast pulse shaping and sum-frequency generation to address these temporal modes.

Neil Turok, Perimeter Institute

Observations reveal the cosmos to be astonishingly simple, and yet deeply puzzling, on the largest accessible scales. Why is it so nearly symmetrical? Why is there a cosmological constant (or dark energy) and what fixes its value? How did everything we see emerge from a singular “point” in the past?

Wavelength selective thermal emitters using nitride quantum wells and photonic crystals

Dr. Dongyeon Daniel Kang, Kyoto University

Wavelength selective thermal emitters are highly desired for the development of the compact/energy-efficient spectroscopic sensing systems capable of detecting various gases such as CO_x, CH₄, and NO_x, which are strongly needed in environmental science, medical care, and other industrial applications. In addition, for the latter applications, dynamic control of thermal emission intensity is important for such emitters because synchronous detection can increase the signal-to-noise ratio significantly.

Swati Singh, University of Delaware

When properly engineered, simple quantum systems such as harmonic oscillators or spins can be excellent detectors of feeble forces and fields. Following a general introduction to this fast growing area of research I will focus on two simple and experimentally realizable examples: a nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond interacting with its many-body environment, and acoustic modes of superfluid helium interacting with gravitational waves.

Ludwig Mathey, University of Hamburg

While traditional means of influencing material properties are static, I will present our recent studies of dynamical control of high-temperature superconductors via light pulses. Specifically, I will discuss both light enhanced superconductivity, for which we propose a parametric amplification mechanism, as well as light induced superconductivity. As a second platform, I will describe dynamics in driven cavity-BEC systems.