Table-Top Particle Physics
This project aims to solve one of the great mysteries of physics using quantum technologies developed at the IQ: the nature of dark matter.
Quantum technologies offer a promising avenue for the study of particle physics. Conversely, the team will test how high-energy particles affect the coherence of quantum devices.
What is your project?
The idea of the Table-Top Particle Physics project is to explore how quantum technologies developed at the Quantum Institute could be put at the service of particle physics, and inversely, how high energy particles affect the coherence of quantum devices.
This may sound surprising because, with our quantum devices, we study quanta that have an energy of a few micro-electron volts, whereas particle physics, which is often called high-energy physics, often looks at particles from a few keV to GeV, so 9 to 15 orders of magnitude higher.
Who are the members of your team and what expertise do they bring to the project?
Yves-Bérubé-Lauzière, Alexandre Blais, Serge Charlebois, Eva Dupont-Ferrier, Mathieu Juan, Jean-François Pratte, Bertrand Reulet and Baptiste Royer. For this project we have gathered theoretical physicists, experimentalists and engineers working on different aspects of quantum circuits and on different types of quantum circuits. Jean-François and Serge are already working with the particle physics community on muon detection.
How is your project ambitious (how does it differ from your usual projects)?
The project takes us out of our comfort zone of quantum information and brings us into contact with particle physics, which speaks a very different language and has a different way of working. But we think we have a lot to learn and contribute to each other and that new ways of doing things will emerge from this collaboration.
What is the role of the Institut quantique in your project?
The Institut quantique is really the incubator of our project and gives us the means, both financially, but especially in terms of infrastructure and with its culture of collaboration.
What will your project contribute to society?
We hope for an answer to a very fundamental question: “What are the main components of the universe that surrounds us?”
The understanding of the interaction between elementary particles and superconducting circuits will also allow us to improve the performance of quantum computers, and the devices we will develop during this project can also be used for other measurements of very weak THz microwave signals. For example, for radio astronomy or to better understand biochemical processes, which could lead to new medical treatments.
To join this research project