There is a new PhD opportunity in my group to study vortex dynamics in ultracold quantum mixtures. Get in touch if you want to play with lasers, build contraptions, and explore quantum systems on the macroscale.
More info here: bit.ly/VortexDynami...
Also: eqop.phys.strath.ac.uk/vsf-projects...
Opening slide of my presentation on Quantum Error Correction at Durham Uninversity. Slide features a picture of the Durham student union and Kingsgate bridge, famously designed by legendary North Eastern arcitect Ove Arup and considered to be one of the world's finest examples of brutalist architecture.
A slide from my presentation comparing surface codes to QLDPC codes. Background: surface codes are a leading approach to QEC, favoured for their local connectivity and straightforward ability to scale to arbitrary distance. However, from a coding theory perspective, they are far from optimal codes, owing to the fact that only a single logical qubit is encoded per patch. In practice, it is estimated that ~1000 qubits will be required per logical qubit in a surface code architecture, making them much less efficient than classical LDPC codes (of the type used in 5G and WiFi) where encoding ratios can be as low as 2-to-1. Quantum LDPC are modelled on classical codes, and it is has been shown (through simulation) that they code achieve encoding densities as low as 50-to-1 (some 20x improvement than surface codes). The tradeoff is that QLDPC codes are much less structured than surface codes, requiring long-range interactions between qubits. The QLDPC Tanner graph shown on the slide depicts a naive layout that I usefully refer to as the "spaghetti connectivity".
Language is redundant by design. The town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Anglesey Wales is probably the best error corrected placename in the world!
Great day back in Durham visiting @durhamqlm.bsky.social to give a seminar on QEC and our recent work at Quantum Software Lab. Also fun to discuss the fault-tolerance of the Welsh towname Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch w/ @ifanghughes.bsky.social @tobifranzen.bsky.social
QLM colleague Alex Matthies showing the CaF experiment the CfAI researchers.
CfAI researchers looking at optical tables in the CaF experiment at QLM.
Fun morning running lab tours for researchers from the Advanced Instrumentation section at @durhamphysics.bsky.social around a selection of @durhamqlm.bsky.social labs (pictured QLM colleague Alex Matthies explaining the CaF experiment)
Not helping now that we know not to trust them!
Not the temperature the experiment was aligned at...
Tobias stands in front of his title slide: towards quantum networking with arrays of Yb atoms.
Tobias presents a slide describing his academic journey prior to being awarded his fellowship.
In this weeks QLM seminar, our very own @tobifranzen.bsky.social tells us about his fellowship plans to use micro cavities to efficiently couple single photons emitted from Yb atoms into standard telecom fibres, in the hopes of generating entanglement between Yb qubits.
A man in a purple tshirt stands in front of a out lamp and an orange lamp. They are on a table in front of a train.
An orange lamp glows within a clear plastic enclosure
@durhamqlm.bsky.social members all ready to Celebrate Science this week at @locomotionshd.bsky.social ! Come and see how we use light to identify atoms and make your own colour-changing picture using nothing but sellotape 💡🌈
PhD project descriptions for a 2026 start at @durhamqlm.bsky.social are now live at durham-qlm.uk/join/phdrecr... - including a funded project on my new experiment!
If you're interested in working with single atoms and single photons to build quantum networks, get in touch and visit our open day.
The electronics that will control my experiment through analog, digital and rf outputs in a test setup on my desk. One of the outputs is connected to a spectrum analyser displaying multiple rf tones.
The first bits of my new experiment have started arriving and showing signs of life - the tones shown on a spectrum analyser here will eventually control the positions of single atoms.
well that image looked better in the preview...
Symbolic illustration of a network formed by Yb atoms connected with optical fibre links.
Got around to building a little website for my new activity on quantum networking with Yb at @durhamqlm.bsky.social, funded by my EPSRC Quantum Technologies Career Acceleration Fellowship: durham-qlm.uk/research/tec...