Quantum Signal Processing: Making Schrödinger Cats and Other Exotic States of Microwave Photons

by Prof. Steven Girvin (Yale Quantum Institute)

Monday 23 Jun 2025, 15:30 → 17:30 Europe/Stockholm

Albano 2: C2207 - Auditorium 4 (80 seats) (Albano Building 2)

Albano Building 2: C2207 - Auditorium 4 

 

zoom link : https://stockholmuniversity.zoom.us/j/61344870751

Meeting ID: 613 4487 0751
 

Fika will be served after the colloquium talk.

 

Abstract: 

The Schrödinger Cat idea was an early thought experiment intended to point out the weirdness of quantum mechanics. It is a paradigmatic example of the quantum principles of superposition and entanglement. With the vast experimental progress in the last two decades, we can now routinely carry out this experiment in the laboratory. In this pedagogical talk, I will present a ‘quantum signal processing’ recipe for how to create a Schrödinger Cat in a system consisting of a superconducting microwave resonator (a harmonic oscillator) and a superconducting qubit (a two-level artificial atom). Extensions of this recipe now allow us to create even more exotic states of microwaves that can be used as quantum error correction codes.

The colloquium is given as part of the Nordita Program “Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing: From Theory to Practice”