Abstract: To avoid decoherence researchers trap atoms, ions and particles in vacuum using a variety of techniques, either using optical, electrodynamic or magnetic traps. In this talk we will focus on magnetic levitation and describe a variety of tasks where magnetic quantum forces can be super handy. We experimentally show how to diamagnetically trap large objects, how to reduce the eddy damping, and to perform feedback cooling, to cool the centre of mass motion by three orders of magnitude. When sufficiently isolated this cooled massive object can act as an inertial sensor comparable to atomic interferometers. We show theoretical proposals on how to use magnetic forces to spin up micromagnets containing magnons to ultra-high rotational speeds and how to make ultra-large quantum superpositions (Schrodinger cats), by levitating flux qubits. Magnetic noise can also be problematic for qubits in solids, and we describe a type of error suppression technique where the quantum systems automatically correct themselves in the presence of such phase noise.
Bio: Jason Twamley is a researcher in the physics of quantum science and technology with a particular emphasis on hybrid quantum systems – systems where one marries together different types of quantum systems to achieve an overall functionality which no one subsystem possesses. Professor Twamley originally trained as a lecturer in Ireland and in 2005, he accepted a call as the Professor of Quantum Information Science at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He took part in the national efforts there to develop quantum computation and quantum technologies in the Australian Research Council Centers of Excellence in Quantum Computer Technology (CQCT), and Engineered Quantum Systems (EQUS). In 2012 he proposed a field of quantum technology: quantum magneto-mechanics where one uses magnetic fields for levitating and trapping quantum objects. He currently is the director of the Quantum Machines Unit at the Okinawa Institute for Science and Technology Graduate University, Japan, which performs research (both theoretical and experimental), on the development of hybrid quantum machines for sensing, communication and computing. https://groups.oist.jp/qmech