Quantum Computers

Course Content

I. Overview of Current Technologies

• Two-level systems.
• Bloch Sphere from an Experimental Point of View.
• DiVincenzo's Criteria.

II. Superconducting Qubits

• Foundations: Introduction to Superconductivity, Cooper Pairs.
• Josephson Junctions: Quantum tunneling, Josephson Energy, Washboard Potential, SQUID.
• Implementations:
  LC Oscillator, Anharmonic Oscillators, Cooper Pair Box, Transmon Qubit Fundamentals, Circuit QED, Jaynes-Cummings model, Qubit Readout.
• Decoherence & Gates: Sources of Decoherence, Charge/Phase/Flux Qubits, CNOT Gate using Charge Qubits.

III. Atomic Qubits

• Relevant Structure of Atoms.
• Trapping and Cooling Atoms and Ions.
• Ion trap Quantum Gates.
• Sources of Decoherence.

IV. Spin Qubits

• Spin in an External Magnetic Field.
• Spin Qubits in Silicon and Diamond NV Centers.
• Sources of Decoherence.

V. Photonic Qubits

• Single Photon Sources & Basic Optical Components.
• Polarization and Optical Angular Mode Encoding.
• Entangled Photons, Manipulations, and Cluster States.
• Sources of Decoherence.

Further Reading

• Core Textbooks:
  • Nielsen & Chuang, "Quantum Computation and Quantum Information" (Cambridge University Press, 2010)
  • Rieffel & Polak, "Quantum Computing: A Gentle Introduction" (MIT Press, 2011)
  • Chris Bernhardt, "Quantum Computing for Everyone" (MIT Press, 2020)
  • Krantz et al., "A Quantum Engineer's Guide to Superconducting Qubits" (Comprehensive Review)
• Quantum Mechanics Background:
  • Griffiths & Schroeter, "Introduction to Quantum Mechanics" (3rd Edition, 2018)
  • Sakurai & Napolitano, "Modern Quantum Mechanics" (3rd Edition, 2020)
  • R. Shankar, "Principles of Quantum Mechanics" (Springer, 2012)
  • Cohen-Tannoudji, Diu & Laloe, "Quantum Mechanics" (Volumes 1 & 2)
• Foundational Papers & Historical References:
  • Bell (1964), "On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen Paradox"
  • Einstein, Podolsky & Rosen (1935), "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?"
  • DiVincenzo (2000), "The Physical Implementation of Quantum Computation"
  • Arute et al. (2019), "Quantum Supremacy Using a Programmable Superconducting Processor"
  • Stuckey et al. (2021), "Introducing Quantum Entanglement to First-Year Students"
  • Richard Feynman, "Simulating Physics with Computers"
• Advanced Quantum Information:
  • Mark M. Wilde, "Quantum Information Theory" (2nd Edition, 2017)
• Lecture notes on quantum computation:
  • Anton Frisk Kockum, et al, "Lecture Notes on Quantum Computing" (2025)
• Neutral atoms quantum computers:
  • Loic Henriet, et al, "Quantum computing with neutral atoms" (2020)
• Reference Documentation & Online Learning:
  • IBM Quantum Learning
  • Qiskit Global Summer School & Tutorials

Problem Sets

Evaluation