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 perhaps in a phase analogous the early Edisonian era of incandescent lighting. Exciting proof of concept devices have been demonstrated, but the right combination of materials, assembly, and control remain short of commercial viability. This confluence of factors has created an incredibly dynamic research and development environment. So, where are quantum computing devices 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 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 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, where the Andreev spin qubit was first demonstrated. 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.