Quantum Mechanics, qubits, superposition & superconductors with Prof. Prabha Mandayam

[00:02:03] Quantum Computing: How can you imagine it visually? 

[00:05:10] Superposition, Oracle, Polarisation: Quantum Information Theory

[00:13:32] 100 Years of Quantum Science: Origin and important dates in Quantum Computing

[00:21:32] Quantum Decoherence: What is it and the challenge behind it?

[00:28:02] Superconductive Qubit and Photonic Qubit: What are they? 

[00:31:49] Quantum Error Correction: An overview of Classical vs Quantum error correction 

[00:33:30] The No-Cloning Theory: What makes Quantum error creation challenging? 

[00:37:48] Quantum Computer in our Hand: Will that be possible in the future?

[00:40:16] Linear Algebra and Probability Theory: The mathematical side of Quantum computing

[00:44:57] Maths, Physics and Engineering: The interdisciplinary nature of Quantum computing

[00:49:30] National Quantum Mission: Goals and teams working on Quantum computing

[00:55:11] Professor’s Personal Journey: How did she get into Quantum computing? 

[01:04:46] Women in Quantum Computing: What does the ratio look like?

[01:10:10] Closing Thoughts: Her message to students

[00:01:32] IIT Madras

[00:26:18] Yale University was one of the earliest groups to start building quantum computers

[00:48:59] Professor Anil and Professor Prabha work in the Center for Quantum Information, Communication and Computing [CQuICC] at IIT Madras

[00:49:09] There are four hubs under the National Quantum Mission - IIT Madras for Quantum Communication, IISc Bengaluru for Quantum Computing, IIT Bombay for Quantum Sensing and Metrology and IIT Delhi for Quantum Materials and Devices. 

[00:49:43] The Raman Research Institute is also doing work on Quantum key distribution 

[00:50:02] There is a team at The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and the Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, Pune [IISER, Pune] working on a branch of Quantum computing

[00:55:17] Professor Prabha completed her graduation from Ethiraj College for Women in Chennai

[00:57:14] Professor Prabha joined her Master’s at Caltech University

[00:13:56] Erwin Schrodinger, an Austrian physicist, wrote his famous wave equation in 1925.

[00:14:41] Werner Heisenberg formulated his Uncertainty Principle sometime in 1925.  

[00:15:18] The experiments with light led Albert Einstein to formulate the idea of a photon.  

[00:16:32] David Deutsch, a physicist in Oxford, came up with the first quantum algorithm in the 1980s. He is often described as the “father of quantum computing”.

[00:17:26] A mathematician named Peter Shor at MIT came up with a quantum algorithm that can factor numbers exponentially faster

[00:20:57] Yasuisnobu Nakamura is a Japanese physicist who first demonstrated the first superconductor-based quantum bit.

[00:21:09] Charles H Bennett is a physicist who was part of the IBM team that demonstrated the polarisation qubit

[00:25:08] Dr. Lov K Grover from Bell Labs demonstrated the Quantum search algorithm, which showed that you can search through an unsorted database faster with a quantum computer. 

[00:31:56] Claude Shannon founded Shannon’s information theory, which is the mathematical study of the quantification, storage and communication of information. 

[00:37:57] Thomas J Watson of IBM famously stated in the 1930s that the world needed 3 or 4 personal computers. 

[00:47:09] Professor Anil Prabhakar at IIT Madras leads a team that works on building Quantum communication hardware. 

[00:49:42] Professor Urbasi Sinha at the Raman Research Institute works on satellite-based quantum key distribution

[00:49:53] Professor Bhaskar Kanseri at IIT Delhi is also working on Quantum Communication

[00:50:01] Professor Vijay Raghavan is leading a group that is working on Quantum hardware

[00:50:05] Professor Umakant Rapol’s team is also working on Quantum hardware

[00:56:27] Professor Prabha completed her Master's under Professor Arul Lakshminarayan

[00:57:12] Professor John Preskill heads one of the leading research groups in Quantum computing

[00:21:08] There were people at IBM who had demonstrated the polarisation qubit. 

[00:27:02] Google’s quantum chip Willow is the first proof of principle that you can put 100 qubits on a chip   

[00:54:06] Mphasis is one of the biggest sponsors of the Quantum Computing centre in IIT Madras

[00:54:32] Companies like Boeing, Airbus, Siemens, Bosch and Mercedes are interested in Quantum Computing

[00:02:08] Quantum Computing leverages the principles of quantum mechanics, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform calculations exponentially faster than classical computers for some complex issues.  

[00:05:09] Superposition is a scientific principle where multiple inputs and or stimuli applied to a linear system produce an output that is the sum of the individual responses to each stimulus.

[00:06:34] A qubit, or a quantum bit, is the basic unit of information in quantum computing, similar to a classical bit, but it can be 0, or 1, or both simultaneously through a quantum mechanical principle called superposition

[00:08:16] Oracle in quantum computing is a hypothetical black-box function that performs a specific operation on a quantum input to determine some property of that function.

[00:10:00] Polarisation of light is the phenomenon that occurs when the oscillations of the electric field of a light wave are restricted to a single plane, transforming randomly oriented (unpolarized) light into polarised light.

[00:14:36] The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that it is impossible to know the exact position and the exact momentum (or velocity) of a subatomic particle at the same time. 

[00:15:21] A Photon is a fundamental particle of light and a quantum of the electromagnetic field, meaning it’s the smallest possible unit of electromagnetic energy.

[00:18:42] In 1994, American mathematician Peter Shor developed Shor’s Algorithm, a quantum algorithm for finding the prime factors of an integer.

[00:20:52] Superconducting Qubits are artificial quantum bits used in quantum computing that are made from superconducting electrical circuits, which behave as “synthetic atoms”.

[00:22:04] Quantum Decoherence is the loss of quantum coherence. It generally involves a loss of information from a system to its environment. 

[00:29:11] Superconductivity is the ability of certain materials to conduct electricity with zero electrical resistance and expel magnetic fields below a specific critical temperature

[00:42:14] Variational Quantum Algorithms are a class of quantum algorithms that leverage both classical and quantum computing resources to find approximate solutions to problems.