Quantum Public Lecture

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Past lectures

2025

Title: Semiconductor quantum systems

Lecturer: Dr. Jelena Vučković

Time: 7:00 PM
Date: October 7, 2025
Location: MacEwan Ballroom, University of Calgary

Abstract: Quantum technologies need photonics for scaling. This is true even for "non-photonic" quantum systems based on superconductors, or trapped atoms and ions in vacuum. For example, new types of spatial light modulators and switches are needed to trap and control atoms and ions, microwave to optical quantum transducers are needed for networking superconducting processors, chip-scale laser systems are required for controlling atoms or spin qubits in solids, and a very high efficiency integrated photonics is needed for quantum networks, sensors, and chip-based semiconductor quantum systems. Unfortunately, these photonics functionalities and performances are not available even in today's best integrated photonic systems. We show how inverse design (which combines AI hardware with new types of physics solvers) can lead to much better photonics designs, and how new photonic materials combined with new nanofabrication and heterogenous integration can lead to desired performances. Specific examples include development of miniaturized titanium:sapphire lasers on chip, strontium titanate transducers, quantum network nodes in diamond, and a quantum simulator and computer with silicon carbide color centers.

Biography: Jelena Vuckovic (PhD Caltech 2002) is the Jensen Huang Professor of Global Leadership, Professor of Electrical Engineering and, by courtesy, of Applied Physics at Stanford. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and an External Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics. Her awards include the Zeiss Award, Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship, Geoffrey Frew Fellowship from the Australian Academy of Sciences, the IET A. F. Harvey Engineering Research Prize, Mildred Dresselhaus Lectureship from MIT, and the Humboldt Prize. She is a Fellow of the APS, Optica, and IEEE, a lead editor of Physical Review Applied, and a co-founder and a lead scientific advisor of SPINS Photonics.

2024

Title: Generating High-Intensity, Ultrashort Optical Pulses

Lecturer: Dr. Donna Strickland

Time: 7:00 p.m.
Date: 17 June 2024
Location: Calgary Central Library

Abstract: With the invention of lasers, the intensity of a light wave was increased by orders of magnitude over what had been achieved with a light bulb or sunlight. This much higher intensity led to new phenomena being observed, such as violet light coming out when red light went into the material. After Gérard Mourou and I developed chirped pulse amplification, also known as CPA, the intensity again increased by more than a factor of 1,000 and it once again made new types of interactions possible between light and matter. We developed a laser that could deliver short pulses of light that knocked the electrons off their atoms. This new understanding of laser-matter interactions, led to the development of new machining techniques that are used in laser eye surgery or micromachining of glass used in cell phones.

Biography: Donna Strickland is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo and is one of the recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 for developing chirped pulse amplification with Gérard Mourou, her PhD supervisor at the time. They published this Nobel-winning research in 1985 when Strickland was a PhD student at the University of Rochester in New York state. Together they paved the way toward the most intense laser pulses ever created.

Strickland was a research associate at the National Research Council Canada, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a member of technical staff at Princeton University. In 1997, she joined the University of Waterloo, where her ultrafast laser group develops high-intensity laser systems for nonlinear optics investigations.

Strickland was named a Companion of the Order of Canada. She is a recipient of a Sloan Research Fellowship, a Premier's Research Excellence Award and a Cottrell Scholar Award. Strickland served as the president of the Optical Society (OSA) in 2013. She is a fellow of OSA and SPIE, the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Society. She is an honorary fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering as well as the Institute of Physics. She is an international member of the US National Academy of Science.

Strickland earned a PhD in optics from the University of Rochester and a B.Eng. from McMaster University.

2023

Title: Quantum science and atomic clocks

Lecturer: Prof. Jun Ye

Time: 7:00 p.m.
Date: 16 November 2023
Location: Telus Convention Centre

Abstract: Clocks, in essence, are oscillators that we use to track the unrelenting passage of time. Higher frequency means more cycles and subunits of time per second, thus providing higher precision. Optical clocks represent this state of the art, where oscillations of electrons in atoms provide a measurement of the passage of one second that is equivalent to a billion years. After a general introduction to atomic clocks and their applications, this lecture discusses some of the most recent scientific advances, including applying quantum science to clocks by entangling atoms to improve their performance, and detecting dark matter and new physics via precision measurement.

Biography: Jun Ye is a fellow of JILA, a joint institute of the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on light-matter interaction at the quantum frontier, especially on the topics of quantum metrology and information science, ultracold atoms and molecules, frequency comb, and cavity QED. His experiments range from ultraprecise optical and microwave atomic clocks, atom interferometry based on optical lattices, and laser cooling and trapping of molecules.

2022

Title: Harnessing the quantum revolution

Lecturer: Prof. Mikhail Lukin

Time: 7:00 p.m.
Date: October 4, 2022
Location: Online

Abstract: We are entering a new era where quantum systems are starting to be used for practical applications ranging from computation and communication, to sensing and imaging. In this lecture, I will review recent developments at this science to technology interface and describe some of the current frontier challenges.

Biography: Mikhail Lukin received the Ph.D. degree from Texas A&M University in 1998. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics at Harvard University from 1998-1999. He joined the faculty of Harvard Physics Department as an Assistant Professor in 2001, was promoted to Full Professor in 2004. He is a co-Director of the Harvard Quantum Initiative in Science and Engineering, and a co-Director of the Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms.

Recording: A recording of the talk can be found here.

2020

Title: Quantum nanophotonics for enhanced information processing

Lecturer: Prof. Michael Reimer

Time: 6:00 p.m.
Date: January 24, 2020
Location: Science Theatre

Abstract: Photonics has a remarkable track record of transforming science and society and is a foundational technology for the 21st century. In just 60 years since the invention of the laser, photonics has provided new spectroscopic tools to observe nature, high bandwidth communication through the Internet, and today is central to advances in sustainable energy, advanced manufacturing, and personalized health care. Photonic quantum technologies aim to harness the quantum nature of light for enhanced information processing. Quantum nanophotonic devices exhibit unique functionalities that cannot be realized by conventional technologies, creating opportunities for new quantum light sources, high-speed quantum cryptography, and quantum computing. In this presentation, I will introduce a new chip-based quantum light source and discuss various quantum technology applications that can benefit from this new source.

Biography: Michael Reimer leads the Quantum Nano Photonics Lab in the Institute of Quantum Computing and the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Michael completed his PhD in Applied Physics at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands in 2012 and postdoc at the University of Waterloo from 2012-2015, prior to joining the faculty at the University of Waterloo as an Assistant Professor in 2015. Michael's research is on new semiconductor based quantum photonic devices with an emphasis on engineering single and entangled photon sources to solve current challenges in quantum photonic technology platforms.

2019

Title: Quantum computational supremacy and its applications

Lecturer: Dr. Scott Aaronson

Time: 4:00 p.m.
Date: July 3, 2019
Location: MacEwan Ballroom

Abstract: Scott Aaronson is a thought leader in quantum computing and computational complexity theory. He'll discuss Google's milestone demonstration of quantum computational supremacy and what it means for the future of quantum computing.

Biography: Scott Aaronson is the David J. Bruton Centennial Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin and the director of its Quantum Information Center. His research interests center around the capabilities and limits of quantum computers, and computational complexity theory. His first book, Quantum Computing Since Democritus, was published in 2013. He received his PhD in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, and did postdoctoral fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study as well as the University of Waterloo.

2018

Title: Quantum simulations with atoms and photons

Lecturer: Prof. Ignacio Cirac

Time: 4:00 p.m.
Date: July 6, 2018
Location: MacEwan Ballroom

Abstract: We know that quantum computers will allow us to solve problems that supercomputers can never crack – but how will we build them? In this talk, Ignacio Cirac will describe how quantum physics will help us understand nature.

Biography: Ignacio Cirac is a Spanish physicist whose experimental and theoretical work has focused on quantum computing and quantum information theory – research for which he has won a number of awards, including the 2018 Wolf Prize in Physics and the 2019 Micius Quantum Prize. Since 2001, he has been the director of the Theory Division of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics.

2017

Title: From the microscopic to the macroscopic world: how quantum weirdness disappears

Lecturer: Prof. Thomas Vidick

Time: 6:00 p.m.
Date: October 13, 2017
Location: Science Theatre

Abstract: Albert Einstein's theory of relativity and the discovery of quantum mechanics were the two greatest breakthroughs in physics of the 20th century. Yet, relativity and quantum mechanics are apparently incompatible. Efforts to combine the two have long been stymied by a series of theoretical roadblocks. A major source of tension is the following paradox: while the theory of relativity establishes a strict causal structure for space-time (the famous light-cone, outside of which no influence can travel), quantum mechanics is inherently acausal (the phenomenon of quantum non-locality, a.k.a. entanglement or Einstein's 'spooky action at a distance'). This talk aims to explain the key concepts that underlie this tension - causal structure, the relativity principle, entanglement, the uncertainty principle, as well as quantum computing and quantum communication.

Biography: Thomas Vidick is a professor in the Computing and Mathematical Sciences department at the California Institute of Technology and is also director for the Center for the Mathematics of Information. He obtained a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 2011. After postdoctoral scholarship at MIT, he has been on the faculty at Caltech. His main research interests are in quantum complexity theory, cryptography, and algorithms.

2016

Title: From the microscopic to the macroscopic world: how quantum weirdness disappears

Lecturer: Prof. Jens Eisert

Time: 6:00 p.m.
Date: June 17, 2016
Location: Science Theatre

Abstract: Anyone who is not shocked by quantum mechanics has not understood it, Niels Bohr allegedly once said. Indeed, the quantum world is radically different from the everyday world we experience. In the quantum world, objects do not have definite positions, particles can tunnel through walls, and cats can be dead and alive at the same time. Given that the microscopic world is governed by quantum mechanics, how do everyday properties of macroscopic objects arise from this strange quantum behaviour?
In this talk, I will explore this fascinating question. We will see the emergence of the classical world out of the quantum and will revisit the pivotal concept of "decoherence" understood as loss of quantum features when quantum systems become ever more macroscopic. The presentation will conclude by addressing the question: How large can quantum systems be in practice? By the end of the talk, I hope you will not only have a vivid idea of quantum weirdness, but also understand where the limitations of observing quantum features on large scales come from.

Biography: Jens Eisert is a full professor at the Free University of Berlin. He received his Ph.D. in 2001 from the University of Potsdam. After his postdoctoral work at Imperial College London, he was appointed junior professor at the University of Potsdam, and then moved to a full professorship at the Free University of Berlin. Eisert has made numerous influential contributions to quantum computing and quantum information science, being best known for his work on entanglement theory and quantum many-body theory. He has received prestigious awards such as the EURYI award and an ERC grant. Eisert has been a full professor at the Free University of Berlin since 2011.

2015

Title: Hacking nature: the quantum computing revolution

Lecturer: Prof. Raymond Laflamme

Time: 7:00 p.m.
Date: June 17, 2015
Location: Bella Concert Hall (Taylor Family Digital Library)

Abstract: Information technology has driven the breathtaking power of the Internet Age. Yet a quantum revolution is underway today that will replace "bits" (the zeroes and ones that represent data in conventional computers) with "qubits" – quantum bits that are both zeroes and ones. The payoff for successfully hacking nature will be new technologies that far outstrip the digital wonders of today. Quantum cryptography is already at the level of commercialization, offering communication security guaranteed by the laws of nature. The power of a quantum computer will far exceed even today's most powerful supercomputers, solving problems that would take these computers until the end of time – literally.
The impact of quantum information processing will likely be transformational, just as digital computing changed our world a half-century ago. It promises to bring computing power that will shed new light on weather systems and climate change; model and elucidate biological processes such as photosynthesis; break codes that are nowadays considered unbreakable; and simulate the action of drugs.

Biography: Raymond Laflamme is the founding Executive Director of the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo, and a founding member of the Perimeter Institute For Theoretical Physics. He is also the Director of the Quantum Information Program at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), and holds the Canada Research Chair in Quantum Information. Laflamme has made numerous influential contributions to quantum computing and quantum information science, being best known for his work on quantum error correction. His current research interests include quantum error correction and quantum cryptography.

2014

Title: Frontiers of quantum information science

Lecturer: Prof. Mikhail Lukin

Time: 6:00 p.m.
Date: July 15, 2014
Location: ICT 102

Abstract: We are entering a new era where quantum systems are starting to be employed for practical applications ranging from computation and communication to sensing and imaging. This talk explores recent developments at this science to technology interface and describes some of the current frontier challenges.

Biography: Mikhail Lukin received the Ph.D. degree from Texas A&M University in 1998. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics at Harvard University from 1998-1999. He joined the faculty of Harvard Physics Department as an Assistant Professor in 2001, was promoted to Full Professor in 2004. He has co-authored over 300 technical papers and has received a number of distinguished awards. His research is aimed at controlling the quantum properties of interacting photons, atoms, and artificial atoms with applications ranging from quantum computing to quantum tribology.

2013

Title: The quantum internet

Lecturer: Prof. H. Jeff Kimble

Time: 6:00 p.m.
Date: June 12, 2013
Location: ICT 102

Abstract: One of a few members of the National Academy of Sciences whose research is in quantum information science, H. Jeff Kimble is a leader in the implementation of quantum information protocols. His research team and collaborators were the first to achieve quantum teleportation from one location to another.

Biography: H. Jeff Kimble is the William L. Valentine Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology. He received his PhD from the University of Rochester and was a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin before joining the faculty at Caltech. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, and the Optical Society of America.