Mar 2, 2020

Harnessing exotic configuration spaces for quantum applications

Date: March 2, 2020 | 9:00 am – 10:00 am
Speaker: Victor Albert, Caltech
Location: Mondi Seminar Room 2, Central Building

The position states of the harmonic oscillator describe the location of a particle moving on the real line. Similarly, the phase difference between two superconductors on either side of a Josephson junction takes values in the configuration space of a particle on a circle. More generally, many physical systems can be described by a basis of position states, describing a particle moving on a more general configuration or state space. Most of this space is usually ignored due to the energy cost required to pin a particle to a precise position. However, as our control over quantum systems improves, utilizing more of this higher-energy space harbors benefits for protecting quantum information and probing quantum matter. I will discuss quantum applications taking advantage of state spaces associated with the harmonic oscillator, as well as molecular rotational and nuclear states.