Physics students train on IBM Quantum technology
The Niels Bohr Institute will start training future generations of quantum physicists, next winter, when undergraduate students in the physics program will take courses that include using IBM's cloud-based quantum computing systems to better understand the world of quantum mechanics. This will be made possible thanks to the IBM Quantum Researchers and Educators Programs.
Students all over the world can become quantum ready with us
“The new exercises we are developing for our physics students will be available as open access for the rest of the world's universities. It will renew the approach to teaching quantum mechanics globally. The quantum technological revolution is in full swing, and it is crucial that we build a quantum-ready workforce that can realize the many opportunities that the new technology opens up for our society,” says Jan W. Thomsen, Head of Department at the Niels Bohr Institute.
Quantum computers strengthen students' competencies
"By integrating exercises on IBM's quantum computers, students can enhance their intuition for quantum systems," says Associate Professor Kim Splittorff, who will be the anchorman of the implementation. “The students will be able to create quantum mechanical conditions themselves and make measurements and explicitly follow what happens to the condition during a measurement. At the same time, students gain crucial experience in both Python programming and remote control of one of the world's most advanced technical experiments, the quantum computer.
New generations must unfold the potential of quantum technology
Jan B. Lillelund, CTO at IBM: “The collaboration with the Niels Bohr Institute is an interesting step forward because IBM's new quantum technology will only be able to unleash its full potential if new generations learn to work with it and gain the intuition needed to further develop technology.”
The 100-year-old who still plays with quantum mechanics
“It was precisely at the Niels Bohr Institute that the special Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics was conceived. Now the students themselves can be allowed to make experiments directly with individual quantum mechanical conditions. The new teaching takes place in the 100th year of the Institute's inauguration and will take off in 2022, the 100th year of Niels Bohr's Nobel Prize, because the Institute is an extremely active and socially relevant 100-year-old,” says Jan W. Thomsen, Head of Department at the Niels Bohr Institute.
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Jan Westenkær Thomsen, Head of Department
E-mail: head_of_institute@nbi.ku.dk
What is a quantum computer
In a quantum computer, the bits that are the cornerstone of a classical computer are replaced with qubits. Unlike the ordinary bits, which can only assume the values 0 and 1, qubits or quantum bits can also be in what is called a superposition of 0 and 1.
By connecting many qubits together in the phenomenon of entanglement, quantum computers could explore calculations that are impossible on the classical computers we know today, and they will be able to do it much, much faster. They can be used for example to develop new medicine and develop new financial models.
Massive investments are being made in the development of quantum computers, and today they have come so far that they are on the threshold of unleashing the enormous potential of quantum technology.