Abstract:
We are in the midst of an exciting revolution in quantum science and technology, comparable in ways to the first one that occurred about 100 years ago. One of the most tantalizing and potentially disruptive innovations to emerge from this second revolution is the prospect of quantum computing. Serious attempts in both academia and industry to design practical quantum computers are pushing physical materials to their extremes. The rise of quantum materials, influenced in part by these attempts, has involved new perspectives and tools not only from physics, chemistry, and material science, but also from mathematics — and not only applied mathematics, but also pure mathematics. I will discuss my work over the past half decade in using ideas from pure mathematics to anticipate new models of quantum materials as well as new paradigms for programming quantum devices that would result from these materials. I will explain, with lots of pictures, not only the mathematical and scientific ideas here, but also how the path to fabrication and actualization has led to exciting interdisciplinary collaborations between mathematics and other sciences and between academia and industry.
Biography:
Dr. Steven Rayan received his doctorate in 2011 from the Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford, where his work was focused on exotic geometries arising from structures in theoretical physics. He then spent 5 years at the University of Toronto before joining the University of Saskatchewan as a faculty member in 2016. At USask, he is the founder and director of quanTA, the Centre for Quantum Topology and Its Applications. Dr. Rayan has become known for applying pure mathematical, and in particular algebro-geometric, thinking to problems in quantum science and quantum technology development. In recent years, Dr. Rayan has leveraged this perspective in the theory, characterization, and synthesis of artificial quantum materials, including hyperbolic lattices with novel functional properties. One of his recent papers concerning hyperbolic quantum matter was a Finalist / First-Runner Up for the Cozzarelli Prize of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States, selected from over 3200 papers published in their Proceedings in 2022. He has also been working in foundational aspects of quantum information as well as applied quantum computing in the form of use case development for various sectors in collaboration with industry partners. Dr. Rayan’s work is generously funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the New Frontiers in Research Fund, and PrairiesCan, and he has been a participant in, and reviewer for, DFG-funded research. He is a member of the Canada-France Quantum Alliance Steering Committee.
The lecture starts at 1.30 pm. Coffee will be served before the lecture from 1.00 pm.
More information can be found here:
https://www.wias-berlin.de/events/events/
Humboldt University of Berlin, Lecture Room 0007
Hausvogteiplatz 5-7, Berlin