Welcome to the APPH E4901 & E4903 Applied Physics Seminar class information site.
Most Wednesdays from 11:40 AM to 12:55 PM in Room 644 S. W. Mudd Bldg.
APPH E4901xApplied Physics Seminar 1 pt. Discussion of specific and self-contained problems in areas such as applied EM, physics of solids, and plasma physics. Topics change yearly. This course is usually reserved for third-year students majoring in Applied Physics.
APPH E4903xApplied Physics Seminar 2 pt. Involves students in all of the discussions that are part of APPHE3401, but also involves the preparation of a formal term paper or presentation on a research topic of the student's choice. This course is usually reserved for graduating seniors majoring in Applied Physics.
Topics change every year and are designed to introduce students in to current research in applied physics.
A qubit is the basic unit of quantum information. For this class, a qubit is a two-state quantum system. A quantum-computer involves challenging programming of several (or many) qubits and the extraction and interpretation of quantum measurements. In a quantum computer, the states from multiple qubits are entangled and manipulated.
Quantum computing is a rapidly developing field. As of today, I am not aware of any quantum computer, although quantum algrorthyms have been demonstrated in the lab and several companies are racing to build quantum computers for commercial and government purposes.
The motivation for this year's theme came from the wonderful article in Wired (August 24, 2018) and the pioneering work of Daivd Wineland and collaborators on cold ion Penning traps. Wineland shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in physics for "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems."
Please read this article appearing in Scientific American in 2008: Quantum Computing With Ions, by Christopher Monroe and David Wineland, Scientific American299, 64 - 71 (2008).
GRE Practice
This year the GRE Subject Test in Physics can be taken on Saturday, October 27. A very good score on your GRE Physics Exam will significantly improve your graduate school admission options.
We'll practice GRE Physics problems on Monday, 11:45 to 12:25, beginning September 24. We'll discuss those high-leverage questions that have a relatively low percentage of correct answers.
This is a lunch-time seminar, and grading is based on participation. For those taking E4903x, your grade will also be determined by your research topical presentation.
This Web Site is a basic resource for APPH E4901 & E4903.
Copies of lecture notes will be available for download in Adobe PDF formats.
A preliminary lecture plan is llisted below. I anticipate changes as we move along. Some topics may require more lecture time, and some will require less. Depending on your interests and comments, we may change some of the topics in the last third of the course.
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2012 was awarded jointly to Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems"
We'll discuss their research and accomplishments today in class.
Lecture notes and discussion of David Wineland's major papers
In-class discussion of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded "for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics" with one half to Arthur Ashkin (Columbia B.S. Physics Class 1947) "for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems", the other half jointly to Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland "for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses."
Prof. Gaeta's research interests are ultrafast nonlinear optics, nanophotonics, nonlinear propagation in fibers and bulk media, photonic crystal fibers, coherent interactions of laser light with matter, application of nonlinear optics to quantum information, stimulated scattering processes.
Nov 7
Prof. William Bailey:Topic to be announced…
Prof. Baliey's research concentrates nanoscale magnetic films and heterostructures, materials issues in spin-polarized transport, materials engineering of magnetic dynamics.
Dr. Nick Bronn (Research Staff - Experimental Quantum Computing at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights)
Dr. Nick Bronn received his PhD from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2013 wih a research focus on condensed matter physics and nanotechnology. His disseration was titled "Spectrocopy of Correlated Nanowires," and Bronn has always been interested in the applications of physics to computing. In 2013, he left the nano world to join the Quantum World at IBM Research, and has since been an experimental quantum computing researcher working to increase the coherence of quantum bits and build larger quantum devices.
Recent quantumm computer articles by Nick Bronn include:
