MTT-S Dallas: Quantum Computing: What is it, how does it work, and what are the opportunities for microwave engineers?

Geared towards microwave engineers with no background in quantum computing and will provide a glimpse into the fundamentals, system architectures and, major microwave challenges that must be overcome to realize fault-tolerant quantum computing.

Quantum computing offers the potential for an exponential speed-up of certain classes of computational problems, and, as such, the development of a practical quantum computer has been a field of intense research over the past two decades. Yet, it is still early in the development of these systems, as we have just reached the point at which laboratory experiments have shown that quantum computers can outperform classical computers at certain computational tasks. As such, it is an exciting time in the field, analogous to the early days of classical computer development. As microwave engineers there is a tremendous opportunity to contribute to quantum computing, as the control and measurement of most quantum processors is carried-out using microwave techniques. In this talk, I will describe the use of microwaves in quantum computing, with a focus on the superconducting qubit technology which was used to show that a quantum computer is capable of post-classical computation. The talk will be geared toward microwave engineers with no background in quantum computing and will provide a glimpse into the fundamentals, contemporary system architectures, recent experiments, and, finally, major microwave challenges that must be overcome if fault tolerant quantum computing is to become a reality. While the “quantum” aspects of quantum computing will be described, the deeper technical discussion will focus on the specification and design of the microwave control and measurement systems required to operate these systems, using Google’s state-of-the-art Sycamore quantum computer as an example. Ongoing research in scalable control and measurement electronics will also be described.