14 DAY TRIAL // A Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis physics faculty member is establishing a network of quantum information laboratories, in China.
“In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1) is one of the world's most known sentences.
Without wanting to distort its wide accepted meaning, if the “Word” was the “Information”, the energy of an ever-moving photon in the universe, that carries with it all the data since the beginning of time, Zhe-Yu "Jeff" Ou, PhD, a faculty member of the IUPUI, has a chance of finding it.
For the past five years, just like he did this summer, the researcher traveled to China where he is working of establishing a network of quantum information laboratories.
The photon is the quantum of electromagnetic energy, regarded as a discrete particle having zero mass, no electric charge, and an indefinitely long lifetime.
Quantum information science uses photons that carry and process information, and Dr Ou and his research team hope that, one day, this could replace the ubiquitous silicon-based computer.
This quantum information laboratory program has introduced this domain in China, where some of the most prestigious universities in the country are associated with.
Dr Ou works with the University of Science and Technology of China, a national research university founded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin University and East China Normal University, and has the support of the Chinese government.
He says that “the collaboration is beneficial to researchers and students in China and at IUPUI, even though IUPUI students will not travel to the labs.
“The Chinese receive counsel on establishing modern and highly technical laboratories for their researchers and students, and I am able to use the new equipment in China to prove theories of quantum behavior of light based on work conducted in our IUPUI lab, giving us the opportunity to continue advanced research in this field by testing what now only exists in theory and bringing that knowledge back to students and fellow researchers at IUPUI,” he added.
Gautam Vemuri, PhD, professor of physics and former department chair at IUPUI, appreciates the work done by the researcher, and he says that “while this is not a School of Science program, the fact that Ou engages in this work benefits IUPUI undergraduate and graduate students in the lab and the classroom through the give and take of ideas, guest lecturers and even water cooler conversations.”
He says that he considers quantum information to be one of the most interesting things in physics today.
“We know that what electrons are doing in the computer on your desk or in my lab can be done more efficiently using the internal properties of photons, [and] with light waves, information can be processed faster than with electronics.
“It's really one of the most important fields of physics in this decade,” Vemuri continued.
Dr Ou is a professor of physics in the School of Science and also an internationally respected researcher in experimental quantum optics.
This summer he was working with East China Normal University, and as he has the support of the Chinese government, he is able to carry out his own research in these labs, which are among the best equipped labs worldwide.