Quantum Computing has been under the spotlight after a paper by John Martinis’ group from UCSB and Google was published in Nature the past 23rd of October, 2019. The article “Quantum supremacy using a programmable superconducting processor” claims that the Google Sycamore quantum computer can outperform the world’s most powerful conventional processor in a particular task, in this case describing the likelihood for different outcomes for a quantum random number generator. It takes about 200 seconds to the Sycamore quantum processor to complete the task while as they claim, “the equivalent task for a state-of-the-art classical supercomputer would take approximately 10,000 years”. IBM has heavily debated this claim stating in a publication that the task could be evaluated in around 2.5 days. The core of the disagreement goes back to the concept of Quantum Supremacy introduced by John Preskill in 2012 and explained by Scott Aaronson as the “use of a quantum computer to solve some well-defined set of problems that could take orders of magnitude longer to solve with any currently known algorithms on existing classical computers”. As William Fefferman from University of Chicago says, regardless the reduction of time scale proposed by IBM, there’s no evidence that any classical computer can perform the same task in anything better than exponential time, while Sycamore performs it in polynomial time; thus “the actual time estimate is not very important”. 

Regardless the discrepancy between Google and IBM, Quantum Supremacy has been the topic of diverse discussions, varying from the mere wording of the concept, the exacerbation of the already”overhype” status of quantum technologies, the publication strategy by Martinis’ group, possible applications and future investments or redistribution of the budget as well as other possible consequences in the field of quantum science. For these reasons ICONS organized a debate on the topic.

Moderated by Patrick Huembeli, the debate counted with the participation of Jose Martinez from the ICFO spinoff Quside joining the two ICFO professors Antonio Acín and Maciej Lewenstein as panelists.

The debate started with an introduction by Maciej covering the general aspects of Quantum Computing and Quantum Simulators as well as the specific experiment done by John Martinis’ group. It was pointed out that the fact that the experiment claiming Quantum Supremacy is essentially academic, does not demerit the relevance and technological advance that Google’s Sycamore programmable processor implies.

Along the debate, the current status of quantum computation as well as the expectations for the quantum technologies field were discussed from different perspectives, mainly academic and industrial. In comparison with Artificial Intelligence, it was pointed out the importance of being realistic when speculating about the possibilities in the field for the near future.

At the end of the debate, some time was left for questions from the audience, treating topics about the currently available comercial quantum devices and future perspective for young quantum scientists.

From June 26-29, 2019 ICONS welcomed students from 15 countries around the world to ICFO to participate in IONS BCN’19 – the conference in optics for, of and by students! IONS -The International OSA Network of Students – is a program initiated by the Optical Society of America (OSA) that encourages student chapters to organise and manage regional meetings which are focused on technical and professional development as well as on networking with peers and luminaries. Note that IONS started at ICFO in 2007, returned in 2009 and now has come back after 10 years.

IONS BCN’19 hosted more than 80 enthusiastic attendees spanning the master up to the professor level such as our four distinguished keynote speakers Lukas Novotny, Eleni Diamanti, Jenny Nelson and Viola Vogel who kicked off the sessions on nanophotonics, quantum optics, optical devices and biophotonics, respectively. In total the program included 28 student talks and a poster session of extremely high quality attracting intense discussions. It was our pleasure to discuss with Carlos Abellán, Co-founder & CEO at Quside, Luis José Salazar, Optics Payload & Operation Specialist at Aistech Space (both ICFO alumni), María Viñas, post-doc at the IO-CSIC in Madrid and OSA Ambassador 2019 and Simon Wall, GL at ICFO about their insights into career opportunities after the PhD. We also enjoyed the unique opportunity of visiting the Barcelona’s Supercomputing Center and of discussing why an MBA after a PhD could leverage your career at the prestigious ESADE business school one afternoon. On the last conference day Danny Krautz, another ICFO alumni, came to give us an encouraging insight into Zeiss’ R+D policies and ventures.

It was clear that, with a majority of participants being students, questions and discussions flowed more freely both inside and outside the auditorium. Not only was it stimulating to see the participation of students in the scientific discussions but it was also fantastic to see our invited speakers joining our social events, for example, the gala dinner and the Barcelona city tour. At these events these renowned researchers were willing to interact with the students and give advice both on science and professional careers, providing a forum to unwind and network.

IONS BCN ’19 extended over four amazing days resulting in unforgettable memories. It was a great experience for us, the IONS organising team, and we express our deep thank you to ICFO and everyone who made it happen.

“IONS BCN ’19 has been a very refreshing event. I could present my work with ease, in front of people who are just like me. That was the best part of the conference, of course other than the social events! The punchline is that I got to make some wonderful new friends. Wonderfully organized. Thank you ICFO and OSA.” – Surya Abhishek Singaraju, PhD student at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

“We are very happy to have The Optical Society’s IONS conference hosted back at ICFO. This program provided nearly 100 student attendees from around the globe with the ability to share their research, build cross-collaboration relationships, and hone professional and technical skills needed to enhance their careers. The student organizers at ICFO have done a fantastic job shaping a program that cultivates the next generation of scientists!” – Terence Rooney, Manager of Students and Early Career Professionals, The Optical Society.

“Having been a PhD student for two years, it’s easy to lose track of the broader photonics community. IONS was the perfect remedy – with diverse and high quality talks, food and sunshine, the atmosphere was ripe for open sharing of ideas and experimental techniques that transcend the different laboratories.”  – Jayadev Vijayan, PhD student at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Munich.

“IONS BCN ’19 was the unique opportunity to try your talk and connect with amazing people all around the world, both students and professors. I would love to go once more and the biggest thanks to the organisers.” – Kristýna Holanová, PhD student at the Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague.

ICONS as a student chapter aims to provide various interesting seminars and workshops for our colleagues at at ICFO. One great advantage of being a student chapter in a research institute like ICFO is the wealth of expertise we can draw from. In previous years we have been able to ask colleagues to share their particular skill set whether that was general knowledge on an interesting topic, such as crypto currency or developing your start-up idea, or sharing skills in photography and experience with programs like POV-ray. 

For this event, ICONS called on the skills of two of our peers, Pau Gomez (PhD student) and Simon Coop (recent PhD graduate) of Prof. Morgan Mitchell’s group working in the field of Atomic Quantum Optics. They have experience working with Arduinos and using electronics to control various aspects of their experiments.  A number of students requested that we (ICONS) organise a workshop in this area for people interested in developing their skills or indeed learning something brand new that may be useful in their labs. It took a little while but we finally found a time that suited everyone and the boys designed and held a very successful workshop with over 27 participants.

When posed the question how does a drone fly? or, how does cruise control keep your car at a constant speed? Many people would make a good attempt at explaining the concept but few would be able to explain the finer details. That is where Pau and Simon step in. With the help of ICFO, providing some financial support for necessary equipment, Pau and Simon designed a four-hour workshop aimed at introducing the concept of a feedback system (aka a control system).

With a room full of eager participants, the workshop kicked off with a very brief introduction from Pau on the general topic to be covered and the basics of an Arduino. Simon then ran through the document he had put together as a guide for the workshop. The aim of this event was to provide hands-on experience to the students with this in mind the theory was kept to a minimum, and teams of two or three students were formed, with the two experts walking around and helping each team as problems or questions arose.

For me as the ICONS organiser and I think also for the guys running the workshop it was a wonderful experience to see the looks of sheer concentration and, at times, frustration on the faces of the groups. These looks were then, eventually followed by little cheers and ‘oooows’ and ‘awwws’ as the LED lit up or the fan started spinning with its frequency being controlled by their computer. The workshop was split into two sessions each on was 2hrs long. The first session was aimed at introducing the concept of controlling both the brightness and flashing of the LED using pulse-width modulation (PWM) while also controlling the fan speed. The second two-hour session was a little more complex and challenging,but nonetheless it was still informative and of course fun!

The two tasks for this session were to measure the speed of the fan and then to implement the PI (proportional-integral) controller to match the fan speed with the flashing frequency of the LED. This may have resulted in a few very frustrated students but at the end Simon demonstrated that it was possible to achieve but maybe we should have designed the workshop to be a little longer to allow them to complete the tasks.

Overall, I think this workshop was a real success. Unfortunately, as is the nature of science, Dr.Coop has since flown the nest and is heading off on a new adventure, in 2019.We still have Pau for a little while longer and we at ICONS look forward to working with him to build on this workshop and bring a second edition to the ICFO community in 2019. On behalf of ICONS I would like to thank Pau and Simon again for giving their time and sharing their skills with fellow scientists and I also want to thank ICFO for the funding and the logistics team for helping us set up the room and the participants that made the workshop so worthwhile!

Until next time!!! Thanks everyone!

Sarah

ICONS Treasurer