With models and simulations becoming faster, more accurate and customizable, it should come as no surprise to learn that more and more science occurs on computers. It is less time consuming and cheaper to simulate dozens of materials, devices, or quantum phenomena on a single computer than it is to procure the equipment necessary to physically carry out all aforementioned experiments. 

Simulating the quantum scale is by far the most difficult challenge but also the most crucial in many cases, with it having application in all fields of science including chemistry, material science, bio-molecular processes, and much more. This is why NexQT, particularly the fellows working on quantum computations, comprise a multidisciplinary group of researchers, from Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence.  

With a successful John R. Evans Leaders Fund (CFI-JELF) application – lead by Professor Gerolin – NexQT will house excellent computational resources starting in 2023, and is setting itself up to be a computing force. Having access to such capabilities may unlock further unexpected connections and synergies with researchers in other quantum fields given the pervasiveness of computational research in other areas of study. For instance, when it comes to quantum imaging and sensing, better resources could allow for breakthroughs in the study of Bosonic systems, especially beyond the Gaussian case – the case behaviorally closest to a classical harmonic oscillator. Similarly, theoretical advances in quantum mechanics combined with computational algorithms may unlock opportunities for high-dimensional quantum information processing in communication. This investment could also have impacts in the fields of Quantum Materials and Nanofabrication; simulating systems with strong correlation has proven to be rather difficult. One of the topics we will explore with the aforestated computational resources is reduction-oxidation (redox) processes in molecular magnetism. Molecular magnets are considered promising candidates for high-density computer memory, quantum computing, and magnetic refrigeration. The difficulty in studying these materials comes from redox-induced electron/spin transfer only occurring in strong electron correlation. Strong correlation is ubiquitous to a plethora of scientific fields, occurring whenever chemical bonds break and form, in redox-active catalysts, as well as in materials (molecular magnets, spintronic devices, superconductors) where electrons have long-range order.

NexQT Researchers who work on Quantum Computation:
Emilio Alarcón
Anne Broadbent
David Bryce
Stefanie Czischek
Clémence Fauteux-Lefebvre
Augusto Gerolin
Pawel Hawrylak
Khabat Heshami
Jeff Lundeen
Lora Ramunno
Ben Sussman