From Donuts to Quantum Computers - Nobel Prize in Physics 2016
Abstract
Quantum mechanics, developed in the beginning of the 20th century, provided a powerful tool for us to understand the properties of materials. Surprisingly, it was shown by Thouless, Kosterlitz and Haldane, this year’s Nobel laureates in Physics, that the concept of topology is needed to understand certain “topological materials". The concept of topology, which is able to provide a mathematical reason (among many other reasons) for why a donut is different from an orange, can be used to explain why some “topological materials" are so different from ordinary materials. The speaker will also explain how these topological materials can be used to build quantum computers.
About the speaker
After completing his undergraduate studies at HKUST in 2003, Prof. Law Kam Tuen received his PhD in condensed matter theory from Brown University in 2008, where he was also awarded the Dissertation Fellowship and the Anthony Houghton Award for Theoretical Physics. He was a postdoctoral fellow at HKUST IAS and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been an Assistant Professor of Physics at HKUST since June 2011.
Prof. Law’s research focus is on strongly correlated systems and on topological phases, particularly on fractional quantum Hall states, topological insulators and topological superconductors. In 2015, he received the Croucher Innovation Awards for his scientific research achievements.
