What a great way to celebrate the International Year of Quantum, with the 2025 Physics Nobel Prize awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis for, well, making a real life Schroedinger’s cat!
While very small systems like atoms, ions, photons, etc. “routinely” exhibit quantum mechanical behavior by being in two states at once, creating a macroscopic system, an entire electrical circuit, that you can see with your own eyes (when it is not hidden inside a cryostat…) that can do the same is a feat that was long assumed impossible! If you are curious, some key words to look up are: Josephson junctions and SQUIDS (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices).
Besides the importance of this for quantum mechanics itself, these devices have a number of important applications such as in quantum sensing, quantum simulations, and quantum computing!
Those of you that used quantum computers for PHYS/CPE 345 Quantum Computing last Spring used computers with this technology (superconducting qubits are these circutis I described).
It is great to see this technology recognized.
Upcoming events:
- Class: PHYS/CPE 345 Quantum Computing will next be offered in Spring quarter. Please make sure you take PHYS 211 Modern Physics in Winter if you haven’t yet to catch the class this cycle.
- Research opportunities: Dr. Nick Stair in Physics and Dr. Irene Humer in CS are both doing research projects that involve calculations on actual superconducting quantum computers.
- Club: If this topic interests you, please consider joining the Quantum Computing Club! Meetings are usually Tuesdays 11:10-12.
- Event: IBM Quantum, who host superconducting quantum computers available for use by the public, will be giving an Introduction to Qiskit workshop here at Cal Poly on Th. Oct. 23, 11:10-12. Please mark you calendars and look for announcements with more details!
