Physical quantum dynamics and quantum measurement

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Quantum technologies are no longer science fiction. Large corporations, including Microsoft, Google, IBM, BBN Raytheon, Lockheed, HRL, and Canadian companies like D-Wave, and Anyon Systems, are all investing heavily in this area. The end goal is not necessarily as ambitious as building a universal quantum computer. Shorter-term quantum technologies have the potential to revolutionize the way we do fundamental science. These technologies include nanometre-scale magnetic-field sensors that rely on measuring the quantum states of individual spins and devices that can simulate the complex quantum dynamics of an interacting many-body system. Quantum sensors have now been used to map out the magnetic field of a single cell and quantum simulations in trapped-ion and trapped-atom systems are reaching into territory that goes beyond what we can predict in a traditional computer simulation. My previous NSERC Discovery Grant on nanoscale quantum dynamics was highly successful, resulting in advances in our understanding of quantum decoherence for trapped ions, and for electron and hole spins in quantum dots, wires, and wells. In addition, we have made substantial progress in understanding physical measurements of quantum systems, leading, e.g., to an effective doubling of the bandwidth of a nanoscale nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center magnetic-field sensor. In this NSERC Discovery Grant, I have proposed a research program that leverages this new understanding we have developed for quantum dynamics in semiconductor nanostructures and in quantum measurements. In this proposal, we extend ideas for quantum simulation to the realm of these semiconductor nanostructures, and improve on our ability to perform quantum measurements for sensing and for fault-tolerant quantum computing. As part of this NSERC Discovery Grant, I will prepare the next generation of HQP working at the forefront of quantum technologies. HQP in my group learn valuable skills: An interdisciplinary combination of quantum information/quantum computation and theoretical condensed-matter physics, with direct contact and application to experiment. This is precisely the combination of skills that is highly sought after in academia, in research centres, and in industry.