Cohort 10 visit quantum research groups in Sydney

Final-year CQD students travelled to Australia for a week of visits to universities and start-ups focused on quantum technologies.

At the start of September 2022, a subset of CQD Cohort 10 embarked on a long journey to Sydney for a week packed with university and industry visits focused on quantum research. After 29 hours of travelling in the wrong direction, crossing both the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean, we finally reached Sydney at 7 am two days later. To avoid completely confusing our circadian rhythm, we powered through the day sightseeing and had a glimpse of what the beautiful city had to offer.

The next day, our first industry visit was to Q-CTRL, a quantum technology startup located in the appropriately named Quantum Terminal of Central Grand Concourse station. There we learnt how their quantum control software can be implemented in laboratory hardware to automatically perform complex quantum operations and manipulate quantum systems.

On the following day, we visited a variety of labs at the Nanoscience hub in the University of Sydney. We saw the quantum control laboratory, where trapped ions are used for quantum control and quantum simulation applications. We were very impressed by the magnetic field compensation coils built inside the walls! We then visited the quantum nanoscience laboratory, where we had the chance of looking inside an off-duty dilution fridge, where nanodevices are usually tested at ultracold temperatures. Finally, we saw the quantum integration laboratory, in which quantum networks are being built for the distribution of entanglement over long distances – in other words, quantum USB sticks.

Next, we visited Archer Materials, a materials technology company focused on developing a room-temperature qubit processor based on the manipulation of spin states in carbon nanospheres. We also visited groups at Macquarie University and at CSIRO working on nitrogen-vacancy diamond nanotechnology for high-resolution sensing and quantum information applications.

We spent our final day of visits at the University of New South Wales. First, we toured some of the Fundamental Quantum Technology labs, in particular those researching the use of both the electron and nuclear spin of ion-implanted phosphorous atoms in silicon as high-fidelity qubits. Finally, we visited the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC²T), where scientists build quantum circuits consisting of phosphorous atom qubits on silicon chips. Here we saw more STMs and dilution fridges in half an hour than we ever saw in our lifetimes! The picture shows us in one of the several different STM labs that we visited.

But of course, we didn’t dedicate all of our time to physics – we took advantage of our long-distance trip and enjoyed the breath-taking Australian scenery. We couldn’t have enough of the beautiful beaches and coastal walks in Sydney, from Bondi to Coogee and finally Manly, where we even spotted a wild Echidna and an Australian water dragon. We also took a day trip out to the Blue Mountains, which gifted us with amazing views and an exciting walk through the rainforest.

Overall, we came out extremely satisfied with our trip. We were lucky to have had the chance to see such a large variety of state-of-the-art quantum laboratories and meet so many great scientists, making some great connections along the way.