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Thursday, February 29, 2024

Quantum LiDAR

En francais

What do you do when your lab space is too small to test the distance requirements for a new long-range sensor and detector in development? Alex Maierean and Luke Neal, graduate students at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) recently navigated this challenge for their latest project.

Their project is looking to advance one application of quantum sensing by incorporating techniques from quantum key distribution into light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors. These sensors are commonly used without quantum components for a wide variety of applications, including 3-dimensional imaging for self-driving vehicles, but have a very limited range and require bright laser beams with many photons to take a measurement.

Monday, February 26, 2024

Major funding for quantum tech companies spun out of Waterloo to advance and commercialize quantum technology

En francais

Federal funding will accelerate quantum startups’ products and solutions for domestic and global markets.

The Government of Canada announced on February 22 it is investing more than $17.2 million in funding through the Regional Quantum Initiative to support startup companies in Southern Ontario’s quantum technology sector, including two companies that have spun out from the University of Waterloo, High Q Technologies Inc., with an investment of $3.7 million and Foqus Technologies Inc., with an investment of $601,975.  

Friday, February 9, 2024

New technique to identify and control large numbers of atomic-scale defects aims to improve sensitivity of quantum sensing devices

En francais

Researchers from IQC, MIT, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a technique for better identification and control of microscopic defects in diamond, as detailed in PRX Quantum, paving the way for the creation of larger qubit systems for enhanced quantum sensing. This breakthrough, led by Alexandre Cooper-Roy, represents a significant advancement in quantum sensing, offering potential revolutionary impacts across various industries and scientific fields.

Monday, January 29, 2024

University of Waterloo IQC researchers awarded $9 million in funding for quantum innovation

En francais

Congratulations to Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) faculty members Dr. David Cory, Dr. Thomas Jennewein and Dr. Chris Wilson, who have each received approximately $3 million in funding for advancing their research into the real-world applications of quantum technology.

Monday, January 22, 2024

Launching the future of secure communication

En francais

Researchers at the Institute for Quantum Computing are leading Canada’s first quantum satellite to protect tomorrow’s data.

In our increasingly digital and interconnected world, graduate students like Kimia Mohammadi constantly innovate to stay ahead of emerging security risks. She is part of a national team creating Canada’s first quantum satellite, currently scheduled for launch in 2025. The Quantum EncrYption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat) mission will be a demonstration of secure ground-to-space quantum communication.

IQC Student Seminar Featuring Everett Patterson

Unruh phenomena and thermalization for qudit detectors

Quantum-Nano Centre, 200 University Ave West, Room QNC 1201 Waterloo, ON CA N2L 3G1

The Unruh effect is the flat space analogue to Hawking radiation, describing how an observer in flat spacetime perceives the quantum vacuum state to be in a thermal state when moving along a constantly accelerated trajectory. This effect is often described operationally using the qubit-based Unruh-DeWitt detector.

We study Unruh phenomena for more general qudit detectors coupled to a quantized scalar field, noting the limitations to the utility of the detailed balance condition as an indicator for Unruh thermality of higher-dimensional qudit detector models. We illustrate these limitations using two types of qutrit detector models based on the spin-1 representations of SU(2) and the non-Hermitian generalization of the Pauli observables (the Heisenberg-Weyl operators).

[2309.04598] Unruh phenomena and thermalization for qudit detectors (arxiv.org)

Thursday, January 11, 2024

IQC’s logo shines bright in a diamond

En francais

Diamonds are one of the most sought-after and versatile gemstones in the world, with purposes beyond jewelry and drill tips. In quantum research, diamonds are frequently studied because of the presence of special defects called colour centers, which can act as a quantum bit, or qubit, to store information in quantum systems.

Dr. Mohammad Soltani, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) is studying ways to implement patterns in diamonds for quantum applications. Recently, his experiments led to a miniscule but recognizable pattern: IQC’s logo, etched into a 2.5 mm square diamond. The smallest logo produced measured just 20 micrometers — about one fourth the width of a single human hair. 

IQC Student Seminar Featuring Senrui Chen, University of Chicago

Tight bounds for Pauli channel learning with and without entanglement

Quantum Nano Centre, 200 University Ave West, Room QNC 1201
Waterloo, ON CA N2L 3G1

Quantum entanglement is a crucial resource for learning properties from nature, but a precise characterization of its advantage can be challenging. In this work, we consider learning algorithms without entanglement as those that only utilize separable states, measurements, and operations between the main system of interest and an ancillary system. Interestingly, these algorithms are equivalent to those that apply quantum circuits on the main system interleaved with mid-circuit measurements and classical feedforward. Within this setting, we prove a tight lower bound for Pauli channel learning without entanglement that closes the gap between the best-known upper bound. In particular, we show that Θ(n^2/ε^2) rounds of measurements are required to estimate each eigenvalue of an n-qubit Pauli channel to ε error with high probability when learning without entanglement. In contrast, a learning algorithm with entanglement only needs Θ(1/ε^2) copies of the Pauli channel. Our results strengthen the foundation for an entanglement-enabled advantage for Pauli noise characterization. We will talk about ongoing experimental progress in this direction.

Reference: Mainly based on [arXiv: 2309.13461]