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Quantum Information Science

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How do we harness the power of quantum mechanics to improve information processing?

The Quantum Information Science program focuses on the fundamental science behind quantum information and quantum technologies in order to understand how best to harness it, solve important computational problems, and develop new insights into physics and information. The program takes a broad interdisciplinary approach, bringing together physicists, computer scientists, and others working in connected disciplines in order to address the field’s most fundamental challenges.


IMPACT CLUSTERS

The Quantum Information Science program is part of the following CIFAR Impact Cluster: Exploring Emerging Technologies. CIFAR’s research programs are organized into 5 distinct Impact Clusters that address significant global issues and are committed to fostering an environment in which breakthroughs emerge.


RESEARCH AND SOCIETAL IMPACT HIGHLIGHTS

Mitigating errors in the most common quantum computing architecture
Circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED) architecture is the most widely studied approach to building quantum computers in both academic and industry settings, but it could often produce inaccurate results when its qubits (the units of information that quantum computers operate on) are measured. A team led by CIFAR Fellow Alexandre Blais (Université de Sherbrooke) and Associate Fellow Guifre Vidal (Google) employed Google’s powerful tensor processing units (TPUs) to discover the potential cause of measurement-induced errors in circuit QED, and develop a mitigation strategy to prevent some of the issues. These results potentially resolve the architecture’s almost 20 year old measurement problems, taking a major step towards building more successful, fault-tolerant quantum computers.

Harnessing the power of silicon
Silicon, the basis of today’s global semiconductor industry through which silicon-based devices could be inexpensively produced at scale, has a number of properties that make it a promising candidate platform for quantum computers and a future quantum internet. CIFAR Fellow Stephanie Simmons’ (Simon Fraser University) team created silicon chips with more than 100,000 individual “T centres”— defects in the silicon that can act as long-lived qubits and can also emit light to enable communication with each other. The research team also optically measured, for the first time, the properties of a single spin qubit in silicon. These results pave the way to creating silicon-based quantum communication networks.


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

Daniel Bacinello

Fellows & Advisors

Program Directors

Aephraim M. Steinberg

Aephraim M. Steinberg

Program Director

Quantum Information Science
University of Toronto
Canada

Fellows

David Bacon

David Bacon

Associate Fellow

Quantum Information Science
Google
United States
Alexandre Blais

Alexandre Blais

Fellow

Quantum Information Science
Université de Sherbrooke
Canada
Mercedes Gimeno-Segovia

Mercedes Gimeno-Segovia

Associate Fellow

Quantum Information Science
United States
David Gosset

David Gosset

Fellow

Quantum Information Science
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
University of Waterloo
Canada
Patrick Hayden

Patrick Hayden

Fellow

Quantum Information Science
Stanford University
United States
Stacey Jeffery

Stacey Jeffery

Fellow

Quantum Information Science
CWI
QuSoft
The Netherlands
Ben Lanyon

Ben Lanyon

Fellow

Quantum Information Science
University of Innsbruck
Austria
Zlatko K Minev

Zlatko K Minev

Associate Fellow

Quantum Information Science
IBM Quantum
United States
Monika Schleier-Smith

Monika Schleier-Smith

Fellow

Quantum Information Science
Stanford University
United States
Irfan Siddiqi

Irfan Siddiqi

Fellow

Quantum Information Science
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
United States
Stephanie Simmons

Stephanie Simmons

Fellow

Quantum Information Science
Simon Fraser University
Canada
Matthias Troyer

Matthias Troyer

Associate Fellow

Quantum Information Science
Microsoft
United States
Guifré Vidal

Guifré Vidal

Associate Fellow

Quantum Information Science
Google
Canada
Nathan Wiebe

Nathan Wiebe

Fellow

Quantum Information Science
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
University of Toronto
United Kingdom

Advisors

Dorit Aharonov

Dorit Aharonov

Advisor

Quantum Information Science
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Israel
Gilles Brassard

Gilles Brassard

Advisor

Quantum Information Science
Université de Montréal
Canada
Raymond Laflamme

Raymond Laflamme

Advisory Committee Chair

Quantum Information Science
University of Waterloo
Canada
John Preskill

John Preskill

Advisor

Quantum Information Science
California Institute of Technology
United States

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars

Ashok Ajoy

Ashok Ajoy

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2022-2024

Quantum Information Science
University of California Berkeley
United States
Nir Bar-Gill

Nir Bar-Gill

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018

Quantum Information Science
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Israel
Giulio Chiribella

Giulio Chiribella

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018

Quantum Information Science
University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Gerhard Kirchmair

Gerhard Kirchmair

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018

Quantum Information Science
University of Innsbruck
Austria
Peter McMahon

Peter McMahon

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2020-2022

Quantum Information Science
Cornell University
United States
Christine Muschik

Christine Muschik

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2020-2022

Quantum Information Science
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
University of Waterloo
Canada
Alexei Ourjoumtsev

Alexei Ourjoumtsev

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2020-2022

Quantum Information Science
Collège de France
France
Paul Skrzypczyk

Paul Skrzypczyk

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2022-2024

Quantum Information Science
University of Bristol
United Kingdom
Pablo Solano

Pablo Solano

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars 2022-2024

Quantum Information Science
Universidad de Concepción
Chile
Thomas Vidick

Thomas Vidick

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2017-2019

Quantum Information Science
California Institute of Technology
United States

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June 17, 2020
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Quantum supremacy: Giant leap, or one small step?

October 29, 2019
Quantum Information Science

Award

CIFAR fellows awarded 2019 Micius Quantum Prize

May 08, 2019
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