Benchmarking Resources for, and Progress Towards, Large-Scale Quantum Computing

Synopsis

After providing an overview of the enabling capabilities of quantum information, and the most-promising current approach to realizing large-scale quantum computing, I will describe my recent research aiming to quantify the theoretical resources that power the advantages of quantum computing, and to benchmark experimental progress towards demonstrating those capabilities.

Speaker Bio

Joseph Emerson is a world-leading authority on the characterization of quantum systems. He pioneered the development of the now-standard error-estimation protocol, dubbed “randomized benchmarking”, for evaluating the performance of prototype quantum information processors. Through a series of ground-breaking papers, his work has recently led to a novel conceptual framework, based on negative quasiprobability and contextuality, that has clarified strict new experimental boundaries for achieving genuine advantages with quantum computation. Prof. Emerson’s many significant contributions also include establishing a theoretical framework for identifying quantum randomization classes, known as “unitary t-designs”, which have been applied in a wide-range of settings, ranging from the construction of randomized benchmarking protocols to analyzing the physics behind the black hole information paradox. He is currently a faculty member of the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Waterloo, studying quantum computing and the foundations of quantum theory.