This award supports Terry Orlando and students from MIT in a collaboration with Frank Wilhelm of the Department of Physics at the University of Munich, Germany. The aim of the international project is to maximize the quantum coherence of superconducting quantum bits for possible use in a full-scale quantum computer. The US side will conduct experiments, analyze quantum computing and control issues, and explore new coupling methods between qubits along with intrinsic decoherence mechanisms in the superconducting system. The German side will provide indispensible theoretical models which will give quantitative predictions for application to the experiments. The combined effort could result in new concepts of quantm computation, the realization of quantum gates, numerical tools to allow the explicit construction of control pulses, and new coupling schemes and decoherence mechanisms. The work plan provides for extensive participation by graduate students in the international travel and research.
