[Seminar] Prof. Robert Joynt "Evanescent-wave Johnson Noise"

Speaker

Prof. Robert Joynt, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Robert Joynt has been Professor of Physics at UW-Madison since 1986 and has served as Department Chair.  He is the founding director of the MS program in Quantum Computing.  His research has ranged from the Quantum Hall Effect to Unconventional Superconductors to Neutron Stars.  His current areas of research are topological materials, qubit designs and quantum algorithms.

Title

Evanescent-wave Johnson Noise

Abstract

Metallic objects set up fluctuating electromagnetic fields in their vicinity due to the random motion of charges.  This poses a threat to many qubit designs, since these fields can destroy quantum information stored in qubits that are sensitive to such fields.  The flip side of the coin is that qubits can serve as sensors, and it turns out that the noise they measure gives information about the metal object.  I will present the theory of this noise and give some examples of both the good and bad sides of the electromagnetic fluctuations. 

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