He began his talk with an introduction on quantum computing. After a brief review of some of the properties of quantum systems such as quantum entanglement and quantum superposition, he described how qubits work compared to classical bits. For example, he explained how a qubit, being able to hold more states than a bit, can be used to represent an exponential amount of data in classical computing. He than talked about the different way of creating a quantum computer. The one they currently have at the IQC is a nuclear magnetic resonance 12 qubits computer. This is, in classical term, a 2^12 bits computer which is still pretty low compared with what we have today. However, with an exponential growth, even small progresses have huge impacts. A part on modifying the state of quantum bits then followed. Their computer uses magnetic fields to change the spin of atoms in a specific molecule used to old the information. The molecule contains 12 atoms with spins, one for each of the qubit. He also explained how these atoms interact with each others to perform specific operations. He ended his talk with an introduction on how to program on quantum computers. The language they use is a low level language that tells the computer to apply a certain magnetic field over a certain time to rotate the atoms in a certain direction. We are still far from Python for quantum computers.

After the talk, they gave us a guided tour of their facilities. They showed us the quantum cryptography system they use to communicate with the Perimeter Institute as well as their actual quantum computer. Here is a video of the presentation of the quantum cryptography system. Vimeo refuses to let me upload the presentation of the quantum computer before next Friday so you’ll have to wait.

Also, if you want to know more on quantum information processing, Wikipedia is a good place to start.