Events at Physics |
Events on Thursday, April 23rd, 2026
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar
- High-Temporal-Resolution Measurements of the Impacts of Ionizing Radiation on Superconducting Qubits
- Time: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Brad Christensen, Northrop Grumman
- Abstract: Northrop Grumman has developed Reciprocal Quantum Logic (RQL), an extremely energy efficient superconducting logic family. We will describe how we use it to perform microwave-free universal control of superconducting dual-rail qubits. We will then discuss how we characterize and mitigate a source of infidelity: strongly-coupled two-level systems located in and near the junction.
- Host: Robert McDermott
- Astronomy Colloquium
- The Virtual Planetary Laboratory and the Search for Signs of Life on Exoplanets
- Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- Place: 4421 Sterling Hall
- Speaker: Victoria Meadows, Senior Research Scientist, SETI Institute
- Abstract: The Virtual Planetary Laboratory is a massively interdisciplinary research group that has been working since 2001 to put a strong scientific foundation under the search for signs of life on exoplanets. This exciting quest was identified as a high priority in both the Astro2020 and planetary science decadal reviews, and it is a key science driver for NASA’s next flagship space telescope, the Habitable Worlds Observatory. To search for life on an exoplanet we must look for potentially-detectable global impacts of life on its planetary environment, such as atmospheric gases released by metabolic processes. However, these biosignatures must be interpreted in the context of their planetary environment, to rule out planetary processes such as volcanism and photochemistry that may enhance, destroy or mimic a targeted biosignature. Consequently, to determine if a biosignature is more or less likely to be due to life, a broad range of information on planetary and stellar properties and processes must also be acquired. Depending on wavelength range, size, and whether ground- or space-based, different telescopes will be capable of advancing the search for life in different ways, ultimately providing synergistic pieces of a much larger puzzle. In this talk I will describe the potential capabilities for biosignature searches using high-resolution spectroscopy with ground-based telescopes and low resolution spectroscopy with JWST, and I will place these opportunities in the context of what might be possible with space-based telescopes over the next two decades.
- Host: Joint colloquium with WiCOR