Category Archives: links

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Interesting news coverage of Teleplace QC talk

So I enjoyed giving my Teleplace talk on Quantum Computing on Satuday, and I received quite a lot of feedback about it (mostly good!).

My talk was reported on Slashdot via a Next Big Future writeup, which in turn linked to Giulio’s Teleplace blog! This level of coverage for a talk has been very interesting, I’ve never had anything linked from /. before. They unfortunately got my NAME WRONG which was most irritating. Although I’m fairly impressed now that if you Google for ‘my name spelt incorrectly + quantum computing’, it does actually ask if you meant ‘my name spelt correctly + quantum computing’ which is a small but not insignificant victory 🙂 Note: I’m not actually going to write out my name spelt incorrectly out here, as it would diminish the SNR!!

The talk also prompted this guest post written by Matt Swayne on the Quantum Bayesian Networks blog. Matt was present at the talk.

I’ve had a lot of people asking if I will post the slides online. Well here they are:

LINK TO SLIDES for QUANTUM COMPUTING: SEPARATING HOPE FROM HYPE
Teleplace seminar, S. Gildert, 04/09/10
quantum computing

Or rather, that’s a direct link to them. They are also available along with the VIDEOS of the talk and a bunch of other lectures and stuff are on the Resources page. Here are the links to the VIDEOS of the talk, and look, you have so many choices!!

  • VIDEO 1: 600×400 resolution, 1h 32 min
  • VIDEO 2: 600×400 resolution, 1h 33 min, taken from a fixed point of view
  • VIDEO 3: 600×400 resolution, 2h 33 min, including the initial chat and introductions and the very interesting last hour of discussion, recorded by Jameson Dungan
  • VIDEO 4: 600×400 resolution, 2h 18 min, including the very interesting last hour of discussion, recorded by Antoine Van de Ven

    • Here are a couple of screenshots from the talk:


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    Experimental investigation of an eight-qubit unit cell in a superconducting optimization processor

    Anyone who follows this blog and wants to get a real in-depth insight into the way that D-Wave’s processors are built, and how they solve problems, should definitely read this paper:

    Phys. Rev. B. 82, 024511 (2010), R. Harris et al.

    The paper itself is quite long (15 pages) but it really gives a great description of how an 8-qubit ‘portion’ of the processor is designed, fabricated, fit to a physical (quantum mechanical) model, calibrated, and then used to solve problems.

    If you don’t have access to the Phys Rev B journal, you can read a free preprint of the article here. And if you’ve never tried reading a journal paper before, why not give it a go! (This is an experimental paper, which means there are lots of pretty pictures to look at, even if the Physics gets hard to follow). For example, a microphotograph of the 8-qubit cell:

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    Simulating Chemistry using Quantum Computers

    Nice preprint from the Harvard group introducing quantum computing for chemical simulation, including a great deal about AQC and how to apply it to such systems, e.g. lattice protein folding and small molecules. Includes references to some experimental and simulation work done at D-Wave (write-up for that in progress).

    Simulating Chemistry using Quantum Computers

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    Quantum Computing – cool new video!

    Here’s a neat video made by my friend and colleague Dr. Dominic Walliman, which gives a great an introduction to all those budding Quantum Computer Engineers of the future 🙂

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    Not only is this a Physics-based educational and entertainment extravaganza, but the video is interspersed with some cool shots of my old lab at Birmingham, and my old dilution refrigerator – I miss you, Frosty… *sniff*

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    BANG! The Universe Verse

    I was asked to review this rather cute book:

    BANG! The Universe Verse (Book I). The book is a portrayal of how the laws of Physics as we know them today arose in the short period of time after the Big Bang. The book also explains how matter forms, and how nuclear fusion and stellar activity plays a significant role in explaining why the Universe appears as it does at present.

    But the cool thing about the book is that is is presented in a comic book format, with two cute characters guiding you through the science. Here is an excerpt:

    “The proton in the centre may not be alone
    As another has access to this VIP Zone
    The neutron may not be quite as attractive
    But it is quiet, well mannered, and rarely reactive”

    This would be great to read to kids 🙂

    You can read the PDF version online or support the author and buy the book.

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    A nice preprint and another talk

    Here is a nice preprint comparing some of the methods of realizing qubits, including neutral atoms, ions, superconducting circuits, etc.

    Natural and artificial atoms for quantum computation

    I’m about to give a short talk on this very topic to an undergraduate Computer Science class. The talk will serve two purposes, it will be an introduction to the myriad of different methods by which qubits and quantum computers can actually be realised, and secondly it will be a nice insight into some of the things that experimentalists have to worry about when they are actually building quantum computers. Here is the talk overview:

    Models of quantum computation
    Implementations
    Ion traps – Optical photons / Neutral atoms – NMR – Superconducting circuits – Nanomechanical resonators
    Example of operation
    The Bloch sphere – The density matrix
    Decoherence + limitations
    The DiVincenzo criteria – Measuring T1 and T2 – Sources of decoherence

    Here are the slides:

    Unfortunately I won’t be recording this one so no videos this time. Boo.

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    Humanity+ UK 2010

    This one-day conference will be the first of its kind, to promote and encourage the (currently fast growing) interest in future technologies and transhumanism in the UK and beyond.

    Humanity+ UK 2010

    Confirmed speakers include Rachel Armstrong, Nick Bostrom, Aubrey de Grey, Max More, David Orban, David Pearce, Anders Sandberg, Amon Twyman, and Natasha Vita-More. It’s a great opportunity for those who are curious about futurism, transhumanism and accelerating technological change to meet and talk to a wide range of people interested in these subjects.

    There will be a conference dinner after the event at a nearby restaurant. Visit the website to find out more and register for the event.

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    Non-Abelian geometric phases in ground state Josephson devices

    Interesting arxiv paper today….

    Non-Abelian geometric phases in ground state Josephson devices

    It’s a shame that the proposed experimental scheme is based around charge qubits 🙂

    EDIT: A couple of other interesting recent Physics stories and links:

    Quantum photosynthesis
    Spin qubits at Princeton
    A Simple n-Dimensional Intrinsically Universal Quantum Cellular Automaton
    Fixed-gap adiabatic quantum computation