Wisconsin Quantum Institute |
Events During the Week of February 1st through February 8th, 2026
Monday, February 2nd, 2026
- CS Seminars on Quantum Computing
- Quantum Computer Security in NISQ and FTQC Eras
- Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
- Place: Morgridge Hall - MH B2516
- Speaker: Jakub Szefer, Northwestern University
- Abstract: Quantum computing systems continue to advance rapidly in their size and fidelity. In parallel, there is an increasing number of deployments of these quantum computing systems into cloud-based services for use by researchers and the public: they are becoming available as cloud-based services thanks to IBM Quantum, Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure, and other cloud providers, as well as they can be accessed from many clouds run directly by the quantum computing vendors. The cloud-based access to quantum computers may make these systems vulnerable to novel security attacks, both for users and the cloud providers. In this context, the talk will introduce the emergent work on security of quantum computing: what are present security threats, what are possible defenses, and how to help develop secure-by-design quantum computers. The talk will explore both security issues in NISQ quantum computers, and the emergent FTQC quantum computers as they are likely to be available in cloud-based deployments soon. This talk is about security attacks (and defenses) for quantum computers, it will not cover post-quantum cryptography.
- Host: Swamit Tannu
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026
- No events scheduled
Wednesday, February 4th, 2026
- No events scheduled
Thursday, February 5th, 2026
- No events scheduled
Friday, February 6th, 2026
- Physics Department Colloquium
- Search for Anyons in Quantum Materials
- Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- Place: Chamberlin 2241
- Speaker: Philip Kim, Harvard University
- Abstract: Anyons, quasiparticles with fractional charge and exotic exchange statistics, have inspired decades of condensed matter research. Furthermore, it has been predicted that the exchange braiding of these particles, particularly non-abelian anyons, could produce topologically protected logic operations that may serve as the building blocks of fault-tolerant quantum computing. In this talk, I will discuss progress in researching two quantum materials platforms for realizing these exotic particles. In the first example, we will discuss anyon braiding arising in fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effects in graphene, using quantum Hall interferometers for direct observation of the anyon braiding phase around a confined cavity. In the second example, we will describe our recent experimental efforts to realize non-abelian anyons in proximitized topological insulator surfaces. Using a Corbino device geometry, we demonstrate the controlled manipulation of non-abelian anyons contained in magnetic vortices. We report tantalizing experimental observations to show the presence of non-abelian anyons in both systems.
- Host: Tiancheng Song