Two of the intellectual pillars of the 20th Century, quantum mechanics and information science, are coming together at the beginning of the 21st Century to create a new field called quantum information science (QIS). Heretofore scientists and engineers have designed information-processing systems which, though they use quantum structures, perform information-processing tasks that can be described in the familiar language of everyday experience. Now rapid advances in nanotechnology are providing access to smaller and smaller information-processing units. At these microscopic scales, we cannot avoid treating information processing in a quantum, rather than a classical way. Quantum mechanics will be a source either of noise and uncertainty or of new computational power. In fact, research in QIS has shown that quantum mechanics offers radically new ways of communicating and processing information. Not only does this promise a technological revolution, but it has already changed the foundations of computer science
Researchers in the emerging field of QIS investigate the power of quantum information for computing, communication, high-precision measurements, and the control of quantum dynamics. The field requires the expertise of physicists, computer and information scientists, materials scientists, electrical engineers, chemists, and mathematicians. Researchers from all these disciplines are already active in the field.
QIS has caught the attention of the international community and is seen as a priority for interdisciplinary research in the country (see, e.g., The National Science Foundation report "Quantum Information Science: An Emerging Field of Interdisciplinary Research and Education in Science and Engineering, available on the Web at http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf00101.) As this document says, "Quantum Information Science (QIS) is an emerging field with the potential to cause revolutionary advances in fields of science and engineering involving computation, communication, precision measurement, and fundamental quantum science."
In order to bring the promise of QIS into the laboratory we require new tools for the preparation, control, and measurement of complex quantum systems. Our research group has focused on this task. Working in close collaboration with the experimental group of Prof. Poul S. Jessen at the University of Arizona's Optical Sciences Center, we perform theoretical studies of quantum information implementations in atomic-molecular-optical systems. Most specifically, we have focused on optical lattices, laser cooled neutral atoms trapped in the interference pattern of an intersecting set of laser beams. This system offers a rich arena in which to study such fundamental issues as:
Quantum control, measurement, and feedback theory. Implementations of quantum information processing protocols in atomic-molecular-optical systems. Quantum to classical transition in complex dynamical systems.
Quantum control, measurement, and feedback theory.
Implementations of quantum information processing protocols in atomic-molecular-optical systems.
Quantum to classical transition in complex dynamical systems.
What is Quantum Information and Technology (QuInT)? Lecture given at the SQuInT 2001 student retreat, Santa Fe.
Quantum Information Processing in Optical Lattices: Cold Atomic Qubits in a Virtual Crystal of Light. IEEE-LEOS newsletter, April 2002.
"Quantum control and information processing in optical lattices", P. S. Jessen, D. L. Haycock, G. Klose, G. A. Smith, I. H. Deutsch, and G. K. Brennen, Quantum Information and Computation, 1 20 (2001). -- Special Issue on Implementation of Quantum Computation.
"Quantum Computing with Neutral Atoms in an Optical Lattice", Ivan H. Deutsch, Gavin K. Brennen, and Poul S. Jessen; Forschritte der Physik 48, 925 (2000) - Special Issue on Physical Implementations of quantum Computing.
"Quantum transport in magneto-optical double-potential wells", Ivan H. Deutsch, Paul M. Alsing, John Grondalski, Shohini Ghose, Poul S. Jessen and David L. Haycock; J. Opt. B: Quant. and Semiclass. Opt., Special issue on Transport in Optical Lattices 2, 633 (2000).
Error Correction overview -- Bryan Eastin
Link to full publication list
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