How To Build A Qubit? by Prof Valla Fatemi

Join us at this IAS STEM Graduate Colloquium by Prof Valla Fatemi from Cornell University. This talk is in conjunction with the IAS Frontiers Seminars: Quantum Horizons, jointly supported by the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) and School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS).

About the talk

The prospect of quantum information technology has led to enormous enthusiasm from the scientific, engineering, and business communities. The current era of quantum computing is in an exciting early-technology phase: proof of concept devices and mid-scale systems have been demonstrated, so we seek the right combination of materials, components, and architecture to unlock full-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers. This confluence of factors has created an incredibly dynamic research and development environment. So, where is quantum computing today, and how can we build the qubits of tomorrow? In this talk, I will describe the necessary ingredients for a quantum two-level-system to be useful as a quantum bit. Then, with the context of modern qubit platforms, we can build up an understanding of the ingredients that can make new qubit platforms disruptive and exciting. 

About the speaker

Valla Fatemi received his PhD in Physics in the group of Pablo Jarillo-Herrero at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018. There he worked on electronic and quantum transport in topological insulator materials, including discovery of superconductor and topological insulator states in monolayer tungsten ditelluride. He also contributed to the project that discovered superconductivity and correlated insulator states in magic angle twisted bilayer graphene. He then joined the group of Michel Devoret at Yale University as the post-doctoral associate on the teams researching the physics of Andreev bound states in superconductor-semiconductor quantum devices, helping to demonstrate the first Andreev spin qubit. In 2022 he joined the faculty of the School of Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University, where he is building a lab researching the basic and applied physics of quantum materials, quantum control, superconducting quantum circuits, and their intersections.