AEP Special Seminar: Edwin Barnes (Virginia Tech)

Robust control at the quantum speed limit from geometric space curves

Future technologies such as quantum computing, sensing, and communication demand the ability to control microscopic quantum systems with unprecedented speed and accuracy. Control errors and environmental noise are among the primary obstacles to realizing these applications. I will present a theoretical framework for deriving control waveforms that dynamically combat errors and decoherence. This theory exploits a rich geometrical structure hidden within the time-dependent Schrodinger equation in which quantum evolution is mapped to geometric space curves. I will discuss the application of this technique to the design of gates for superconducting, semiconducting, and atomic qubits, and will also discuss what space curves tell us about the speed limit of quantum logic gates.

Bio: A member of the physics faculty at Virginia Tech since 2015, Edwin Barnes has been active in developing quantum information science and engineering education programs, and has played an important role in the creation of the Virginia Tech Center for Quantum Information Science Engineering. Prior to 2015, he held a postdoctoral position at the University of Virginia and a senior research associate position in both the Joint Quantum Institute and the Condensed Matter Theory Center at the University of Maryland. He earned a doctoral degree in physics from the University of California, San Diego in 2006.