Quantum Information Science
How do we harness the power of quantum mechanics to improve information processing?
Computing technology has become so much a part of everyday life that most of us never consider just how amazing the technology, or the extent of the technological revolution it has created. The next revolution is around the corner: quantum information science.
Computer science, aided by quantum mechanical inventions such as the transistor and the laser, has developed further in the past 50 years than we would have imagined. But current computers are binary: a switch is either on or off, one or zero. In this way, they are limited in what they can do.
QIS offers the potential to approach quantum mechanics and computer science through a powerful new frame. Potential applications range from cryptography, code-breaking, design and simulation of materials and chemicals, to fast optimization and machine learning techniques.
Many nations are already investing billions of dollars in the field, and spinoff technologies using QIS are already being commercialized, including sensors, amplifiers and detectors with applications ranging from medical imaging to oil exploration.
This program connects theorists and experimentalists who address field’s most fundamental questions. This approach will pay dividends by encouraging radically new ideas, at the same time it engages with industry in the search for new applications and to maximize the positive impact on society of QIS.
Details for applicants to the CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars program
The Quantum Information Science program is based on a broad interdisciplinary approach, bringing together physicists, computer scientists, and others working in connected disciplines in order to attack the field’s most fundamental challenges. The overarching aim of the program is to understand the origin and limits of the power of quantum information, in order to discover how best to harness it to solve the most important computational problems, and to develop new insights into physics and information. To this aim, three broad questions are being pursued by this program: 1) “How can we process quantum information in a robust and scalable way?”, 2) “What are the applications of QIS and technology?” and 3) “What fundamental properties of Nature and computation are revealed by QIS?”
The construction and assessment of quantum information processing devices includes both fundamental theoretical and experimental challenges in which not only is the number of qubits in devices increased, but so is their longevity and the accuracy with which they can be manipulated, error-corrected, and interfaced with one another. The identification of applications of quantum information processing devices is a natural goal that stands side-by-side with the realization of quantum devices and is a major focus of this program. Finally, the development of the fundamental science of quantum information includes theoretical studies of quantum computational models and phenomena associated with quantum information, quantum foundations, and experimental efforts aimed at a fundamental understanding of quantum information. This fundamental knowledge of QIS yields new concepts and methods that can have deep impacts in other areas of science.
SELECTED PAPERS
Knill, E., R. Laflamme et G.J. Milburn. "A scheme for efficient quantum computation with linear optics." Nature 409 (2001) : 46-52. ABSTRACT
Negrevergne, C. et al. "Benchmarking quantum control methods on a 12-qubit system." Physical Review Letters, 96 (2006) : 170501 ABSTRACT
L. A. Rozema et al., “Quantum Data Compression of a Qubit Ensemble,” Physical Review Letters 113, 16 (2014). ABSTRACT
J. Zhang et al., “Digital quantum simulation of the statistical mechanics of a frustrated magnet,” Nature Communications 3, 880 (2012). ABSTRACT
Founded In
2002
Renewal Dates
2007, 2012, 2019
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Computer science, including quantum computing and theory of computation
Quantum, condensed matter, mathematical and atomic physics
Optics
Electronic and information engineering
Applied mathematics
Contact
Fellows & Advisors
Program Directors
Fellows
Ben Lanyon
Fellow
Irfan Siddiqi
Fellow
Guifré Vidal
Fellow
X the Moonshot Factory
Thomas Vidick
Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2017-2019
Advisors
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars
Nir Bar-Gill
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018
Giulio Chiribella
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018
Gerhard Kirchmair
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018
Peter McMahon
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2020-2022
Christine Muschik
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2020-2022
Alexei Ourjoumtsev
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2020-2022
Thomas Vidick
Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2017-2019
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CIFAR is a registered charitable organization supported by the governments of Canada, Alberta and Quebec, as well as foundations, individuals, corporations and Canadian and international partner organizations.