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The Second Quantum Revolution: The promise of quantum technology

Held on the 8th May 2019

at 8pm to
9pm


Add to Calendar 2019-05-08 20:00:00 2019-05-08 21:00:00 Australia/Sydney The Second Quantum Revolution: The promise of quantum technology

Presented by

Professor David Jamieson

School of Physics, University of Melbourne and
ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantam Computation and Communication Technology 

Abstract

Every day we effortlessly apply the products of the first quantum revolution to surf the web, read a newspaper or keep in touch with family and friends. The products are computers, lasers and optical fibres all of which depend on quantum mechanics which gives us the tools to understand not only the material building blocks of the universe but also the materials for semiconductor computer chips, light emitting diodes and marvellous medical diagnostics. These products of the first quantum revolution have revolutionised our society. Now we are embarking on a second quantum revolution that aims to engineer devices that directly exploit the strange laws of quantum mechanics including superposition, entanglement and spooky action at a distance. In 1959 Richard Feynman first theorised that these quantum effects could be used in computing and only now are the first simple quantum processors started appearing. The rise of quantum computing offers the promise of new machines that exploit the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics for revolutionary capabilities to perform tasks difficult or impossible by classical machines. This lecture looks at the origin of the strange laws of quantum mechanics that are driving this second revolution and the work being done in Australia to build large scale arrays of single atom quantum bits in silicon crystals for a quantum computer device within the next five years.

About the Speaker

Professor David Jamieson is in the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne. Following the
completion of his PhD in 1985 David spent four years working at Caltech (USA) and the University of Oxford
(UK) as a postdoctoral research fellow. He has served as the President of the Australian Institute of Physics
and as the convener of the national working group for the Decadal Plan for Physics in Australia which was
submitted to the Academy of Science in December 2012. He is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics
and the Institute of Physics UK. He is also actively involved in physics outreach activities, regularly giving
public lectures on fundamental issues in physics. His research expertise is in the field of ion beam physics,
particularly in the use of focused ion beams for materials modification and analysis and in the development
of quantum computer devices. These devices are being used to test some of the key functions of a
revolutionary device for quantum computation and communication constructed in silicon at CQC2T.

Hosted by the Australian Institute of Physics.