Quantum information is the science of using quantum mechanics in a variety of ways to explore new ways of computing and handling information. At the end of the day, us, the scientists, have to find ways to implement non-classical gates and memory into the real world. Materials, allowing for quantum superpositions, single emitters in the solid state and other new-born materials in the nano-world have to pave our way to build the quantum computer. These quantum materials need to be investigated and project the physicist on the track to quantum computing suddenly to a material scientist.

Our workshop 'From Quantum Matter to Quantum Information' aims to bridge the gap between scientists in researching both fields. We invite all theoretical and experimental graduate students, postdocs, and other scientists, who research on the transition between quantum information science and their real-world materialization to join us for this conference.

Here are some of the questions that will be discussed during the workshop:

What are today's quantum computers and quantum simulators capable of? What are the implications for physics and computer science? What makes a quantum computer quantum?-Can quantum annealing devices, such as Dwave's systems, exhibit entanglement and does it matter? Can quantum simulators aid the search for high-Tc-superconductors? It has recently been established that if a certain class of quantum processes (which are in experimental reach) can be efficiently classically simulated, then the polynomial hierarchy of complexity classes collapses at the third level.-Is this likely?

Decoherence - How big an obstacle for quantum computation is it? The interplay between decoherence and entanglement, two intrinsically quantum phenomena, affect the workings of a large-scale quantum computer. In theory, if the decoherence strength is below a critical level, the error threshold, arbitrarily long and accurate quantum computations are possible. To which extent has this claim of theory been corroborated by experiment? What do efficient quantum codes? How do realistic physical constraints such as short-range interaction and planar architecture (chip) affect the choice of quantum codes?

Contributed talks and posters are invited. Registration and submission will open in February 2013.

Confirmed invited speakers

Mohammad Amin, Dwave Inc., Burnaby, BC, Canada,

Alexandre Blais, Universite de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada,

Hector Bombin, Perimeter Institute Waterloo, Canada,

Yu-Ao Chen, University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China,

Jens Eisert, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany,

Jay Gambetta, IBM Yorktown Heights, NY, USA,

Christian Gross, Max-Planck Insitute for Quantum Optics, Garching, Germany,

Mark Johnson, Dwave Inc., Burnaby, BC, Canada,

Vahid Sandoghar, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen, Germany,

Mike Thewalt, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Cananda,

Joerg Wrachtrup, Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany

Organization

This workshop is organized jointly by the Quantum Materials Institute of UBC and the Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Science Stuttgart, Germany.