Spring 2025

Dissertation Committee Chair: Christopher J. Lobb

Committee:

Jacob M. Taylor

Victor M. Galitski

Saikat Guha

Alicia J. Kollar

Abstract: There is a deep connection between quantum error correction and phases of matter for spatially local codes in finite dimensions.  I will show how this analogy extends to more general settings: quantum codes with check soundness are absolutely stable phases of matter.  These codes include constant-rate quantum low-density parity-check codes, which shows that the third law of thermodynamics is false: there exist absolutely stable phases of matter with constant entropy density at zero temperature.

Abstract: Inspired by natural cooling processes, dissipation has become a promising approach for preparing low-energy states of quantum systems. However, the potential of dissipative protocols remains unclear beyond certain commuting Hamiltonians.

In this session, we will break out into subgroups to work through the mathematics in the paper "Hidden-State Proofs of Quantumness" (https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.06368).

Each group will have at least one person with familiarity in cryptography familiarity to guide the process.

Participants should read the paper before the session, but are not expected to have grasped all of its concepts.

Experimental control over the strength and angular dependence of interactions between atoms is a key capability for advancing quantum technologies. Here, we use microwave dressing to manipulate and enhance Rydberg-Rydberg interactions in an atomic ensemble. By resonantly coupling opposite parity Rydberg states, we create eigenstates with first-order dipole-dipole interactions. We study the modification of the interactions by measuring the statistics of the light retrieved from the ensemble.

Abstract: Experimental control over the strength and angular dependence of interactions between atoms is a key capability for advancing quantum technologies. Here, we use microwave dressing to manipulate and enhance Rydberg-Rydberg interactions in an atomic ensemble. By resonantly coupling opposite parity Rydberg states, we create eigenstates with first-order dipole-dipole interactions. We study the modification of the interactions by measuring the statistics of the light retrieved from the ensemble.

Dissertation Committee Chair: Maissam Barkeshli

Committee: 

Andrey Gromov (advisor)

Victor Albert

Tom Goldstein

Christopher Jarzynski (Dean’s representative)

Quantum computing leverages the quantum properties of subatomic matter to enable algorithms to run faster than those possible on a regular computer. Quantum computers have become increasingly practical in recent years, with some small-scale machines available for public use. Quantum computing applications are largely dependent on the software that manipulates computations on the hardware. These applications rely on a variety of symbolic representations including quantum programs to describe and manipulate quantum information effectively.

Quantum mechanics is one of our most profound and successful theoretical frameworks for understanding the physical world. It continues to drive remarkable technological and theoretical breakthroughs, spanning computing, coding theory, cryptography, material science, and chemistry. In this talk, I will describe how the algorithmic lens has been pivotal in rigorously analyzing such quantum systems and revealed deeper structural properties that were previously inaccessible through traditional approaches.

Optomechanical detectors offer a highly sensitive method for measuring weak forces. By optically trapping these systems in high vacuum, one can drastically reduce environmental noise and achieve exquisite control over the detector’s center-of-mass motion, rotational degrees of freedom, and physical characteristics such as charge states. This level of isolation enables the detector’s noise to reach the quantum measurement regime, where the dominant noise source is the measurement process itself.