Jadwiga Wilkens

What I do

Most of us have heard about this mysterious quantum computer. It is supposed to do some calculations better or faster than classical computers. For that we need basically two things: lots of teeny tiny little quantum states (in the form of light, ions, …), and a way to manipulate them with a very high precision. Since quantum states are very fragile, every unwanted interaction can destroy them, like if an unwanted light or air particle bumps into it, the quantum information is lost. So how do we know that the quantum computer is actually doing what we think it is doing? How can we check that?!

In my research, I quantify how well a quantum computer is doing by characterising the errors that happen during a calculation. Funnily, I try to forget that the underlying system is driven by quantum physics and instead use mathematical and computer science tools.

I am currently collaborating with a large quantum computing company called Rigetti, where we put our work into practice. Luckily, they managed to run an experiment for us that would previously have taken 36 days --- and instead took only 6 hours! And we were very surprised by the experimental results we got and hope to advance the understanding of what actually happens in a quantum computer.

Why it matters

I am amazed by how far we have come in manipulating quantum states. But when we start using them for calculations, we still do not fully understand how they behave. Even a single quantum bit under our control is fascinating --- and this is what I want to understand!