Inaugural lecture by Anders Sørensen

Title: Quantum information processing with atoms and light

Abstract: The field of quantum information processing aims at exploiting the laws of quantum mechanics to process information in a way which is classically impossible. Because the fundamental logical structure of quantum mechanics is completely different from classical logic, there are certain computational tasks which can be solved more efficiently on a computer based on quantum mechanical principles than on the computers we are used to today. Famous examples include the factoring of large numbers, which if implemented on a quantum computer could break the security of most encryption protocols used on the internet today. From a physics perspective a more interesting possibility is that such a quantum computer would be an ideal tool for solving complicated quantum many body problems.

In the talk I will give an introduction to what quantum information processing is and the theories we have developed for how to implement it in practice. In particular I will talk about a new approach we are exploring, where we are trying to exploit decay and dissipation as a resource for quantum information processing.