Nobel Laureate in Physics David J. Wineland visited USTC

On September 20th, 2019, Prof. David J. Wineland, the Nobel Laureate in Physics, was invited to visit USTC and attend the Forum of Great Minds.

Prof. David J. Wineland won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2012 for his breakthroughs in experimental techniques for measuring and manipulating single quantum systems.

Prof. David J. Wineland from the University of Oregon is currently the research chair of Philip H. Knight. He has made tremendous contributions to improving the accuracy of spectral measurement, greatly promoting the development of atomic clock technology with higher accuracy and atomic quantum state manipulation technology.

President BAO Xinhe paid tribute to Prof. Wineland’s outstanding achievements and contributions in the field of quantum information in ion wells, and congratulated him on winning the 2018 Micius Quantum Award. He expressed his vision of seeking more opportunities for cooperation between the two universities in the future.

President BAO presented Prof. Wineland with the Memorial Certificate of Forum of Great Minds.

On the same day, Prof. Wineland gave an academic report entitled Quantum Computers and Raising Schrödinger's Cat in the Material Science Building. Prof. LIN Yiheng from the School of Physical Sciences chaired the lecture.

Forum of Great Minds

In the report, Prof. Wineland explained the prospects and necessity of studying quantum computers. From information storage, scalability to parallel acceleration, the audience had a preliminary but clear understanding of quantum computing. Then Prof. Wineland introduced laser cooling, level manipulation, fluorescence readout and other techniques used in ion well quantum computation, and demonstrated 11 QBs demonstrator. He also introduced the application of ion trap platform in simulating solid-state physics and other fields. At the same time, he put forward his own views on the future development of quantum computing: quantum computers are developing towards multi-bit and high fidelity, while there are also some problems to be solved urgently, such as quantum error correction. Prof. Wineland's brilliant report aroused great interests and heated discussion among the audience.

Audience listened attentively

After the report, Prof. Wineland held a round table discussion with Prof. LU Zhengtian and Prof. LIN Yiheng from USTC. Prof. Wineland shared his insights on how to find inspiration in scientific research and his interesting stories when winning the Nobel Prize. Finally, Prof. Wineland advised all the audience that success lies in finding the cause you love and striving for it. The Nobel Prize is only the recognition from the outside world, and the most important thing is the love and devotion to scientific research. Even if he did not win the prize at that time, it would not change his interest in research. The audience broke out in applause and the students were deeply encouraged.

Written by YANG Xinqi, edited by JIANG Pengcen, USTC News Center

Image provided by International Cooperation Office and the School of Physical Sciences