Summary

The future of computation and our understanding of the world around us is driven by the quantum world. This week Paul Nation explains how the Quantum Toolbox in Python (QuTiP) is being used in research projects that are expanding our knowledge of the physical universe.

Preface

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• Your host as usual is Tobias Macey and today I’m interviewing Paul Nation about QuTIP, the quantum toolbox in Python.

Interview

• Introductions
• How did you get introduced to Python?
• Before we start talking about QuTiP, can you provide us with a baseline definition of what quantum mechanics is?
• What is QuTIP and how did the project get started?
• Is QuTiP used purely in academics, or are there other users?
• What are some of the practical innovations that have been created as a result of research into different areas of quantum optics?
• How do you foresee the advent of practical quantum computers impacting the state of quantum mechanical research?
• Given the inherent complexity of the subject matter that you are dealing with, how do you approach the challenge of trying to present a usable API to users of QuTiP while not inhibiting their ability to operate at a low level when necessary?
• What is the process for incorporating new understandings of quantum mechanical theory into the QuTiP package?
• What are some of the most difficult aspects of simulating quantum systems in a standard computational environment?
• What is the most enjoyable aspect of working on QuTiP, what is the least enjoyable?
• What are some of the most notable research results that you are aware of which used QuTiP as part of their studies?
• What are some resources that you can recommend for anyone who wants to learn more about quantum mechanics?

Keep In Touch

• QuTiP
• QuSTaR

Picks

• Tobias
  • edx.org
• Paul
  • Cython
  • Matplotlib
  • Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Links

• Quantum Optics
• 2 Level System
• Complex Numbers
• Qubit
• Quantum Computing
• Harmonic Oscillator
• Nature Scientific Journal
• IBM Quantum Experience
• D-Wave
• Rigetti Quantum Computing
• Quantum Supremacy
• Hamiltonian
• Sparse Matrix
• Richard Feynman
• Dask
• Project Q
• Quantum State Transfer via Noisy Photonic and Phononic Waveguides paper by Peter Zoller
• Extending the lifetime of a quantum bit with error correction in superconducting circuits paper by Rob Shoelkopf (Yale)
• QuTiP Documentation

The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA