This project team is working to develop novel systems and techniques for information processing, transmission and security by exploiting the properties of quantum mechanical operations.
Dr. Barry Sanders, University of Calgary
As the size of computer components approaches the atomic scale, quantum technologies will be necessary for the storing and processing of information. The ability to exploit quantum mechanics opens up a whole new mode of computation that may allow computations previously thought infeasible or impossible. Thus, this project team is working to develop novel systems and techniques for information processing, transmission and security by exploiting the properties of quantum mechanical operations. When designing a quantum information processor, it is important but difficult to know if necessary error correction protocols will be effective. In the past year, the team developed a quick, easy test that can rule out many candidate processors, thus enabling researchers to focus on the promising candidates. In another aspect of quantum information research, a new hypothesis has been developed for gathering information from black holes in space. Previous theories speculated that information could only be retrieved at a very slow rate, or not at all. Experiments based on the new theory showed that information can escape from a black hole after only milliseconds, instead of billions of years.