The Centre for Quantum Computation (CQC) is an alliance of

quantum information Quantum information is the information of the state of a quantum system. It is the basic entity of study in quantum information theory, and can be manipulated using quantum information processing techniques. Quantum information refers to both t ...

research groups at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. It was founded by

Artur Ekert Artur Konrad Ekert (born 19 September 1961) is a British / Polish professor of quantum physics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, professorial fellow in quantum physics and cryptography at Merton College, Oxford, Lee Kong Chi ...

in 1998. Until recently, the CQC also included research groups at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, but now the Cambridge groups operate as an independent entity called the Cambridge Centre for Quantum Information and Foundations (CQIF).

Research

The CQC conducts theoretical and experimental research into

quantum computing A quantum computer is a computer that exploits quantum mechanical phenomena. On small scales, physical matter exhibits properties of wave-particle duality, both particles and waves, and quantum computing takes advantage of this behavior using s ...

quantum cryptography Quantum cryptography is the science of exploiting quantum mechanical properties to perform cryptographic tasks. The best known example of quantum cryptography is quantum key distribution, which offers an information-theoretically secure soluti ...

and other forms of

quantum information processing Quantum information science is a field that combines the principles of quantum mechanics with information theory to study the processing, analysis, and transmission of information. It covers both theoretical and experimental aspects of quantum phys ...

, into the implications of the

quantum theory Quantum theory may refer to: Science *Quantum mechanics, a major field of physics *Old quantum theory, predating modern quantum mechanics * Quantum field theory, an area of quantum mechanics that includes: ** Quantum electrodynamics ** Quantum chr ...

of information for

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

itself, and into foundational and conceptual questions in

and

quantum information theory Quantum information is the information of the state of a quantum system. It is the basic entity of study in quantum information theory, and can be manipulated using quantum information processing techniques. Quantum information refers to both t ...

Groups

Initially the CQC was based at the

Clarendon Laboratory The Clarendon Laboratory, located on Parks Road within the Science Area in Oxford, England (not to be confused with the Clarendon Building, also in Oxford), is part of the Department of Physics at Oxford University. It houses the atomic and la ...

, but it has now grown to span several departments at the University of Oxford:

Physics

* Atom-photon physics, group led by Axel Kuhn. *

Ion trap An ion trap is a combination of electric field, electric and/or magnetic fields used to capture charged particles — known as ions — often in a system isolated from an external environment. Atomic and molecular ion traps have a number of a ...

ping, group led by

Andrew Steane Andrew Martin Steane is Professor of physics at the University of Oxford. He is also a fellow of Exeter College, Oxford. He was a student at St Edmund Hall, Oxford where he obtained his MA and DPhil. His major works to date are on error correc ...

and David Lucas. *

Nuclear magnetic resonance Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a physical phenomenon in which nuclei in a strong constant magnetic field are disturbed by a weak oscillating magnetic field (in the near field) and respond by producing an electromagnetic signal with a ...

, group led by Jonathan A. Jones. * Quantum spin dynamics, group led by Arzhang Ardavan and John Morton (group spans physics and materials). *

Quantum theory Quantum theory may refer to: Science *Quantum mechanics, a major field of physics *Old quantum theory, predating modern quantum mechanics * Quantum field theory, an area of quantum mechanics that includes: ** Quantum electrodynamics ** Quantum chr ...

, group led by Dieter Jaksch. * Ultracold quantum matter, group led by Christopher Foot. * Ultrafast quantum optics, group led by Ian Walmsley.

Materials

* Photonic nanomaterials, group led by Jason Smith. * Quantum and nanotechnology theory, group led by Simon Benjamin. * Quantum spin dynamics, group led by John Morton and Arzhang Ardavan (group spans physics and materials).

Computer Science

* Quantum Group, led by

Samson Abramsky Samson Abramsky (born 12 March 1953) is a British computer scientist who is a Professor of Computer Science at University College London. He was previously the Christopher Strachey Professor of Computing at Wolfson College, Oxford, from 2000 t ...

and

Bob Coecke Bob Coecke (born 23 July 1968) is a Belgian theoretical physicist and logician who is Chief Scientist at quantum computing company Quantinuum. He was Professor of Quantum foundations, Logics, and Structures at Oxford University until 2020. He ...

Mathematics

Mathematical physics Mathematical physics is the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the de ...

, group led by Artur Ekert.

Origins

The centre has its origins in the early 1980s when the computer industry began to worry about the limits of computing. In 1981, Oxford physicist

David Deutsch David Elieser Deutsch ( ; ; born 18 May 1953) is a British physicist at the University of Oxford, often described as the "father of quantum computing". He is a visiting professor in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at the Centre for ...

attended a party in Texas given by the famous American physicist John Wheeler who had invited a number of scientists interested in the foundations of computing. It was at this party that Deutsch gained the crucial insight that would lead to an entirely new branch of physics. At the time, computer scientists were turning to

Newtonian physics Classical mechanics is a physical theory describing the motion of objects such as projectiles, parts of machinery, spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. The development of classical mechanics involved substantial change in the methods ...

to try to resolve certain fundamental puzzles in the field. But during a conversation at Wheeler's party, Deutsch realised that this was the wrong approach. Physics is fundamentally governed by quantum theory, and Deutsch could see immediately that using quantum theory instead of Newtonian physics would give a different result. As a consequence of this insight, Deutsch published the paper in 1985 that is now generally regarded as a classic in the field. The paper describes how a computer might run using quantum mechanics and why such a computer is fundamentally different from ordinary computers. In 1987, Artur Ekert arrived at Oxford to work on a DPhil in physics, where he met Deutsch. Whilst working at Oxford, Ekert developed a theory of cryptography based on quantum entanglement. A chance meeting on the ski slopes of the Alps with

John Rarity John G. Rarity is a British physicist who is professor of optical communication systems in the department of electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Bristol, a post he has held since 1 January 2003. He is an international expe ...

, a scientist at DRA (then the UK's main military research organisation), led to a collaboration in which Ekert's scheme was tested experimentally in the early 1990s. After finishing his DPhil, Ekert gained a junior research fellowship from Merton and took on his first DPhil student. With Deutsch, this created a small team that within a year had acquired the title of the Quantum Computation and Cryptography Group. A breakthrough in 1994 by

Peter Shor Peter Williston Shor (born August 14, 1959) is an American theoretical computer scientist known for his work on quantum computation, in particular for devising Shor's algorithm, a quantum algorithm for factoring exponentially faster than the ...

, a researcher at the labs of the American telecommunications giant

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

, boosted the entire field of quantum information. Shor showed that Deutch's quantum computer could actually solve an important problem that an ordinary computer would find impossible. For the first time, it became clear that quantum computers were far from unimportant curiosities. After Shor's announcement, quantum information became increasingly popular with Oxford. In 1995,

began an experimental effort to study how quantum computers might be built from ionised atoms trapped by laser beams. In 1996, Jonathan Jones started a group working on a quantum computer based on the same techniques used in magnetic resonance imaging in medicine. And two years later,

Dirk Bouwmeester Dirk (Dik) Bouwmeester (born 1967) is a Dutch experimental physicist specializing in quantum optics and quantum information. He currently holds faculty positions at the University of California at Santa Barbara and at Leiden University in the Net ...

arrived from

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

to begin an experimental group working out how the quantum world could also revolutionise communication. The group changed its name to the Centre for Quantum Computation.

Cambridge

When Artur Ekert moved to Cambridge to become the first Leigh Trapnell Professor of Quantum Physics in 2002, the Cambridge Centre for Quantum Computation was created. It continued under this name until 2010, when the existing research group was joined by

Richard Jozsa Richard Jozsa is an Australian mathematician who holds the Leigh Trapnell Chair in Quantum Physics at the University of Cambridge. He is a fellow of King's College, Cambridge, where his research investigates quantum information science. A pion ...

, and the centre was renamed the Cambridge Centre for Quantum Information and Foundations (CQIF), reflecting the broad range of its research activities. The Cambridge CQIF is based at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP), within the Centre for Mathematical Sciences. The Cambridge CQC's permanent faculty were Artur Ekert, Leigh Trapnell Professor of Quantum Physics at Cambridge from 2002 to 2007, and Adrian Kent, currently Reader in Quantum Physics at Cambridge. The Cambridge CQIF's permanent faculty are Richard Jozsa, Leigh Trapnell Professor from 2010, and Adrian Kent.

References

External links

Oxford CQC

Cambridge CQIF
{{authority control Departments of the University of Oxford

Quantum Computation A quantum computer is a computer that exploits quantum mechanical phenomena. On small scales, physical matter exhibits properties of both particles and waves, and quantum computing takes advantage of this behavior using specialized hardware. C ...

Physics research institutes