Come and learn about cutting-edge research and the latest developments in the vast world of physical science! Join us for a free public physics talk, "How to Build a Better Qubit," with Nathalie de Leon from Princeton University. This talk will be held in Flug Forum at the Aspen Center for Physics. Come early at 5 pm for tea and cookies; the lecture will be 5:30-6:30 pm.

Quantum technologies have the potential to revolutionize computing, communication, and sensing, but in order to use quantum information, we must store it for long periods of time and protect it from noise. Essentially all quantum hardware suffers from noise and loss, often arising from imperfections in the constituent materials. Understanding (and ultimately eliminating) these sources of noise is tricky business—the quantum bit (qubit) is often the most sensitive object, but merely measuring the qubit yields little information about the culprit responsible for noise. Tackling these problems requires a multidisciplinary approach that blends quantum measurement with materials science. Nathalie de Leon will describe her group's recent efforts to achieve major improvements in two different qubit platforms: nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond and superconducting circuits.

Nathalie de Leon is an associate professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Princeton University. Her group focuses on building quantum technologies with solid state defects and new material systems for superconducting qubits. She received the Air Force Office for Scientific Research Young Investigator Award in 2016, the Sloan Research Fellowship in 2017, the NSF CAREER Award in 2018, the DARPA Young Faculty Award in 2018, the DOE Early Career Award in 2018, the Gordon and Betty Moore Experimental Physics Investigator Award in 2023, and the 2023 Rolf Landauer and Charles H. Bennett Award in Quantum Computing. She is the materials thrust leader of the Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage, a DOE National Quantum Information Science Center. She was previously a postdoctoral fellow in the Harvard physics department, jointly supervised by Mikhail Lukin and Hongkun Park. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 2004 from Stanford, where she worked under Richard Zare, and she earned her Ph.D. in chemical physics in 2011 from Harvard in the lab of Hongkun Park.

This series is made possible by the Nick and Maggie DeWolf Foundation. Thank you to Two Leaves and a Bud Tea Company for providing tea for this event.

Please RSVP at aspenphys.org

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