The Quantum Computer is Growing Up: Robust error correction in a quantum processor Rainer Blatt | Innsbruck | Science | KurzweilAI 

A more efficient algorithm for error correction in quantum computers has been demonstrated experimentally by physicists at the Institute for Experimental Physics of the University of Innsbruck and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IQOQI).

The physicists demonstrated the mechanism by storing three calcium ions in an ion trap. All three particles were used as qubits: one ion represented the system qubit while the other two ions represented auxiliary qubits. The system qubit was then entangled with the auxiliary qubits to transfer the quantum information to all three particles.

The physicists applied a quantum algorithm to determine whether an error occurred and, if there was an error, correct it. After making the correction, the auxiliary qubits were reset using a laser beam to enable repetitive error correction.

“For a quantum computer to become reality, we need a quantum processor with many quantum bits. Moreover, we need quantum operations that work nearly error-free; the third crucial element is an efficient error correction.”- Philipp Schindler

A team of physicists at the University of Innsbruck, led by Philipp Schindler and Rainer Blatt, has demonstrated a crucial element for quantum computers: repetitive error correction. This allows scientists to correct errors occurring in a quantum computer efficiently. The researchers recently published these findings in Science.

Quantum Entanglement Allows "Teleportation in Time" MIT Technology Review "Conventional entanglement links particles across space. Now physicists say a similar effect links particles through time. Entanglement is so deeply enmeshed in the universe that a measurement in the past has an automatic, time-symmetric, influence on the future—and vice versa." –MIT Technology Review

Science—Top Breakthrough of the Year Science, UCSB Science Magazine has compiled the top breakthroughs of the year, awarding the most significant scientific advance of 2010 to Andrew Cleland and John Martinis (UCSB). "This year’s Breakthrough of the Year represents the first time that scientists have demonstrated quantum effects in the motion of a human-made object," said Adrian Cho, a news writer for Science. "On a conceptual level it extends quantum mechanics into a whole new realm. On a practical level, it opens up a variety of possibilities ranging from new experiments that meld quantum control over light, electrical currents and motion to—perhaps someday—tests of the bounds of quantum mechanics and our sense of reality. This last grand goal might be achieved by trying to put a macroscopic object in a state in which it’s literally in two slightly different places at the same time."

TEDxCaltech | Feynman's Vision: The Next 50 Years Caltech In recognition of the 50 year anniversaries of Richard Feynman's visionary talk "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom" and the inauguration of his revolutionary "Feynman Lectures on Physics," the Institute will host TEDxCaltech on January 14, 2011. TEDxCaltech will be a dynamic celebration of Feynman's spirit, curiosity, and scientific vision, and will take ideas worth sharing from Caltech out into the world by celebrating Nobel Laureate, visionary, and “curious character” Richard Feynman, with the theme “Feynman’s Vision: The Next 50 Years.” Speakers include Scott Aaronson, Immanuel Bloch, Sean Carroll, John Preskill, Lenny Susskind, David Awschalom, Kip Thorne, Charlie Marcus, Don Eigler, Michael Roukes, Craig Venter, and many more.

Future holds key to quantum physics — Obama awards National Medal of Science to Aharonov 

The National Medal of Science  

As reported in USAToday, Yakir Aharanov of Chapman University was in Washington D.C. to collect a National Medal of Science this past week:

“The future is affecting the past—all the time, on the quantum level—allowing physicists to effectively select the future they want their particles to have, within limits, and amplifying the results for a desired outcome.”

“I really believe we are close to a second revolution in physics as big as the one a century ago," Yakir Aharonov says. "I feel we are only beginning to free existing quantum theory and to do so, we must think of time in another way.”

Austrian Templeton Fellowship Traunkirchen
Quantum Physics and the Nature of Reality

— In tribute to quantum pioneer Michael Horne 

I'm recently back from two resident Templeton fellowships on Quantum Mechanics in Higher Dimensional Hilbert Spaces and Quantum Physics and the Nature of Reality at Austrian International Akademie Traunkirchen with Nobel laureate Anton Zeilinger.

Fruitful collaborations were borne from engaging discussions with inspiring pioneers in the field including Rupert Ursin, Marcus Aspelmeyer, Časlav Brukner, William Wootters, Christopher Fuchs, Daniel Greenberger and Michael Horne. 

Christopher Altman (front, center), Traunkirchen, Austria

Creative discussions were enhanced by the tranquil setting of the former monastery, surrounded by mountainous scenery and clear blue skies reflected off the mirrored waters of Lake Traunsée. Overlooking the lake are Mount Traunstein, Salzkammergut, and the alpine mountain ranges spanning Upper Austria.

Photos of the picturesque setting and the idyllic, crystalline lake in the Austrian Alps are available online here. 

Zeilinger's achievements are most succinctly described in his citation for the Nobel Prize in Physics (2022) and the Isaac Newton Medal of the Institute of Physics: 

“For his pioneering conceptual and experimental contributions to the foundations of quantum physics, which have become the cornerstone for the rapidly-evolving field of quantum information. He is a pioneer in the field of quantum information and the foundations of quantum mechanics.”

Zeilinger and his colleagues have demonstrated many world's-first achievements in the field, including quantum teleportation, entanglement swapping, dense coding, entanglement-based quantum cryptography, one-way quantum computation, multipartite quantum entanglement, and blind quantum computation. In addition, he has made many important contributions to the conceptual and experimental foundations of quantum mechanics, particularly in the areas of quantum entanglement and macroscopic quantum mechanics. 

IQOQI Deputy Director Rupert Ursin later joined up for a tour of Mauna Kea and the Big Island of Hawaii in close proximity to the IEEE Summer Topicals Meeting on Quantum Photonics and Communications in Waikoloa, where he spoke on The Next Frontier of Quantum Communications, sharing engaging discussions alongside long, meandering morning walks on the beach that gave birth to new collaborations with Richard Hughes, Chair of the USG Quantum Roadmap at LANL, Tim Ralph, Wolfgang Tittel, Jaewan Kim, and Masahide Sasaki. 

Soon thereafter I was fortunate to attend the inaugural NASA Quantum Future Technologoies Conference under the visionary leadership of USAF Gen. Pete Worden, PhD astrophysicist. Stimulating debates with longtime mentor Jon Dowling led to further research collaborations with Ursin, Williams, Sharma, Villoresi under the DARPA QUINESS Macroscopic Quantum Communications program through our team proposal, Astronaut Development and Deployment of a Secure Quantum Space Channel Prototype at the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems.