Can a puzzle game help make quantum computing less puzzling? Find out for yourself by playing Hello Quantum, a mobile game designed to teach introductory principles of quantum computing. Players can explore the building blocks of quantum mechanics through puzzles, then toggle between playing the game and exploring the IBM Q Experience. Quantum computing has always been fascinating, but Hello Quantum goes the distance to make it fun.
The electron is a first generation fermionand a lepton. Fermions are particles with have half-integer spinthat follow Fermi-Dirac statistics and obey the Pauli exclusion principle. The Pauli exclusion principle states that two identical fermions can’t occupy the same quantum state (i.e. have the same quantum numbers within a quantum system). Leptons are a subcategory within fermions that can exist independently (without binding together) and do not interact through the strong force unlike quarks. Lastly the generations of the fermions loosely refers to the higher masses for particles in higher generations.
The existence of electrons was first discovered by J.J. Thompson in 1897 when he experimented with cathode ray tubes like the one depicted above. By applying electric and magnetic fields across the cathode ray Thompson was able to determine the mass-to-charge ratio of the particles in the cathode ray. With this he found that the particles were much smaller than any atom and by testing different sources, these negatively charged particles exist in every element.
Electrons are one of the primary charge carriers in atoms alongside protons but are the primary contributors to electric current. Electrons also have an intrinsic property known as spin which contributes to paramagnetismin certain materials.
Above is a video of an electron riding a light wave. The video was taken using a stroboscope which captures. More on it here (article)andhere (video).
Research involving electrons covers almost every corner of modern physics from high energy particle physics to condensed matter physics and even quantum computing. I have linked articles on recent research with a focus on electrons below for further reading.
By drilling holes into a thin two-dimensional sheet of hexagonal boron nitride with a gallium-focused ion beam, University of Oregon scientists have created artificial atoms that generate single photons.
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The artificial atoms - which work in air and at room temperature - may be a big step in efforts to develop all-optical quantum computing, said UO physicist Benjamín J. Alemán, principal investigator of a study published in the journal Nano Letters.
“Our work provides a source of single photons that could act as carriers of quantum information or as qubits. We’ve patterned these sources, creating as many as we want, where we want,” said Alemán, a member of the UO’s Material Science Institute and Center for Optical, Molecular, and Quantum Science. “We’d like to pattern these single photon emitters into circuits or networks on a microchip so they can talk to each other, or to other existing qubits, like solid-state spins or superconducting circuit qubits.”
In every modern microcircuit hidden inside a laptop or smartphone, you can see transistors—small semiconductor devices that control the flow of electric current, i.e. the flow of electrons. If we replace electrons with photons (elementary particles of light), then scientists will have the prospect of creating new computing systems that can process massive information flows at a speed close to the speed of light. At present, it is photons that are considered the best for transmitting information in quantum computers. These are still hypothetical computers that live according to the laws of the quantum world and are able to solve some problems more efficiently than the most powerful supercomputers.
Although there are no fundamental limits for creating quantum computers, scientists still have not chosen what material platform will be the most convenient and effective for implementing the idea of a quantum computer. Superconducting circuits, cold atoms, ions, defects in diamond and other systems now compete for being one chosen for the future quantum computer. It has become possible to put forward the semiconductor platform and two-dimensional crystals, specifically, thanks to scientists from: the University of Würzburg (Germany); the University of Southampton (United Kingdom); the University of Grenoble Alpes (France); the University of Arizona (USA); the Westlake university (China), the Ioffe Physical Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences; and St Petersburg University.
Nano-sized diamonds with certain defects are assetsfor people who study light.
Marko Loncar, an NSF-funded electrical engineer at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, creates tiny structures out of diamonds and other elements to manipulate how light and matter interact on the nanoscale.
For instance, Loncar, who is part of the Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team, uses diamond posts in a silver substrate as the scalable platform to enhance single photon emission by nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond.
Nitrogen vacancy centers are defects formed in diamonds that allow for the precise manipulation of absorbed photons and emitted light.
You may not want a flawed diamond on your finger, but it’s the defect that makes things like quantum computing possible.
False-colour electron microscope image of the silicon nanoelectronic device which contains the phosphorus atom used for the demonstration of quantum entanglement. Credit: University of New South Wales
The work advances the possibility of applying quantum mechanical principles to existing optical fiber networks for secure communications and geographically distributed quantum computation. Prof. David Awschalom and his 13 co-authors announced their discovery in the June 23 issue of Physical Review X.
“Silicon carbide is currently used to build a wide variety of classical electronic devices today,” said Awschalom, the Liew Family Professor in Molecular Engineering at UChicago and a senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. “All of the processing protocols are in place to fabricate small quantum devices out of this material. These results offer a pathway for bringing quantum physics into the technological world.”
The findings are partly based on theoretical models of the materials performed by Awschalom’s co-authors at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. Another research group in Sweden’s Linköping University grew much of the silicon carbide material that Awschalom’s team tested in experiments at UChicago. And another team at the National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology in Japan helped the UChicago researchers make quantum defects in the materials by irradiating them with electron beams.
so a couple of days ago a had a lecture and it was… quite intense. the lightbulb moments that made sense simultaneously didn’t make sense, lmao. I later got to reviewing the content to better understand it, but here’s a…
protip! - find a new place to study or work. for the past year, i’ve been working at the same table in the same area. but studying (and eating lunch) at two different places within two days (with earbuds in to focus) made me feel more refreshed and energized. you should try it :)
pro-tip: if you don’t understand something, do ask a knowledgable student or teacher! or even google! i find myself not understanding things the first time through. not hesitating to ask my fellow peers and teachers for clarity on concepts definitely helped~
got plans for this summer already (aka this research internship) but already thinking of plans for summer travels next year. i want to travel the globe
second day of research back from my trip! my research requires a lot of background reading, but i find that taking (aesthetic) notes helps to summarize my understanding and solidify it ;)
Schrödinger’s King: Paul Rudd challenges Stephen Hawking to a game of Quantum Chess
A bit offtopic. But the video by Caltech’s Institute for Quantum Information and Matter in association with Trouper Productions is pretty darn funny. And it’s about Quantum Physics, so there’s my excuse for posting. Furthermore, it’s narrated by Keanu Reeves, who gives his best to sound like a bad imitation of Keanu Reeves. You have to like it.
The game is real and the stakes are high as the future of humanity hangs in the balance. Can Paul Rudd, an actor, beat Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest minds of our generation, in a game of chess that will determine the future of humanity? Most likely not. Unless…
