Ranier Blatt wins Bell Prize for trailblazing quantum research

On August 20th, 2015, world-renowned quantum physicist Rainer Blatt will be awarded a prestigious prize for his contributions to the development of quantum information technologies, during the Conference on Quantum Information and Quantum Control being held at the Fields Institute at the University of Toronto.

The fourth biennial John Stewart Bell Prize for Research on Fundamental Issues in Quantum Mechanics and Their Applications, administered by U of T's Centre for Quantum Information & Quantum Control, has been awarded to Professor Blatt, of the University of Innsbruck, by an arms'-length selection committee of international experts, "for his pioneering research on quantum information processing with trapped ions, in particular, for the recent demonstrations of analog and digital quantum simulators and quantum logic gates on a topologically encoded qubit."

A computer that exploits the strange features of quantum theory is extraordinarily more powerful than any silicon-based computer. This discovery of the mid 1990's triggered a race to develop so-called quantum computers. One of the most promising technologies for quantum computation is trapped ions (i.e. charged atoms). Professor Blatt is a pioneer and leader in this technology.

Professor Blatt will accept the award and deliver a lecture about his work, open to the public, at 1:30 pm on Thursday August 20th, in the main auditorium of the Fields Institute. More information about the Bell Prize can be found at http://cqiqc.physics.utoronto.ca/bell_prize/home.html and more information about the conference is at http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/programs/scientific/15-16/CQIQCVI/

Provided by University of Toronto