The overarching goal of our project is to use strong quantum correlations in order to develop
systems, involving large-scale entanglement, that outperform classical systems in a series of relevant
applications.
The best way to move toward this goal and to make it reachable on the medium term is to use or to
design systems based on direct and deterministic interactions between individual quantum entities.
Our project objectives are to
A. control direct and deterministic interactions between individual elements by
1. improving known systems, from AMO as well as from solid-state physics
2. developing new ones, including combinations across those two domains.
B. exploit such interactions to develop and implement
1. quantum simulations of both digital and analogue type
2. quantum interfaces for communication and sensing.
Concerning objectives A, we will explore a wide range of experimental platforms as enabling
technologies:
- from cold collisions or Rydberg blockade in neutral atoms to electrostatic or spin interactions
in charged systems like trapped ions and quantum dots (A.1)
- from photon-phonon interactions in nano-mechanics to photon-photon interactions in cavity
QED and to spin-photon interactions in diamond color centers (A.2).
Concerning objectives B we will explore two deeply interconnected lines to:
- build experimentally working implementations of quantum simulators (B.1) and quantum
interfaces (B.2)
- conceive and realize applications that utilize such devices for simulating important problems
in other fields of physics (B.1), as well as for carrying out protocols outperforming classical
communication and measurement systems (B.2).
Theoretical and experimental activities will be strongly integrated at every stage of this process, to
converge in a certification and validation step collecting evidence for the reliable performance of
each of the developed quantum technologies and assessing it against that of their best available
classical counterparts.