10/08/2021
By Joanne Gagnon-Ketchen
For zoom link to join contact Joanne Gagnon-Ketchen.
Archana Kamal, Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell will give a talk on "Quantum Information Processing in the NISQ Era: Challenges and Opportunities en route to the First Quantum Computer."
Abstract: Almost 100 years ago extraordinary scientists, such as Einstein, Bohr and Heisenberg, led the first quantum
revolution unraveling the nature of physical reality. We now find ourselves in the exciting era of a second quantum revolution, heralded by the rapidly growing field of quantum information processing. The biggest challenge to realizing usable quantum processors is "decoherence", the loss and erasure of quantum information due to strong interactions between qubits and the uncontrolled degrees of freedom around them. This challenge seems even more forbidding in view of the requirement of having quantum information platforms that can be scaled up in size and be controllable by external agents – the two functionalities essential to realize a universal fault-tolerant quantum computer. In this talk, I will first present a brief overview of such NISQ (Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum) systems and how they present new challenges and opportunities for unraveling fundamental quantum effects in the presence of noise. Next, I will describe the progress made by our group in the creation, control and characterization of entanglement in such noisy quantum systems.
Bio: Archana Kamal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Applied Physics at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) and directs the QUantum Engineering Science and Technology (QUEST) Group at UML. Dr. Kamal completed her pre-doctorate education in India, completing her B.Sc. (Honors) in Physics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and her Master’s in Physics from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. She received her M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from Yale University in 2010 and 2013 respectively, followed by a postdoctoral stint at MIT. Her research spans both fundamental and applied aspects of quantum information processing, with a focus on quantum systems that can be engineered like classical machines while intrinsically behaving quantum-mechanically like atoms. Her research led to new designs of noise-resilient artificial atoms (or qubits) and new protocols for high-efficiency information routing and nonreciprocal amplification, which are now routinely employed in many laboratories around the world. Some of the current themes of her research include generation and control of large-scale entanglement, quantum measurement and readout, and applications of quantum information concepts to tackle questions in early Universe cosmology and thermodynamics. Her contributions to nonreciprocal quantum signal processing were recognized by MIT Technology Review with a TR35: Global Innovator Award in 2018. She is also the recipient of 2021 AFOSR Young Investigator Award and 2021 NSF CAREER Award.