• Congress Program, Part 1 (info/invited speakers/detailed program summary)
• Congress Program, Part 2 (abstracts/author index)

Abstract for Herzberg Public Lecture :

RAYMOND LAFLAMME, INSTITUTE FOR QUANTUM COMPUTING/UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

Harnessing the Quantum World

 Information processing devices are pervasive in our society; from the 5 dollar watches to a multi-billion dollar satellite network.  These devices have allowed the information revolution which is developing around us.  It has transformed not only the way we communicate or entertain ourselves but also the way we do science and even the way we think. All this information is manipulated using the classical approximation to the laws of physics, but we know that there is a better approximation: the quantum mechanical laws.  Would using quantum mechanics for information processing be an impediment or could it be an advantage?  This is the fundamental question at the heart of quantum information processing (QIP). QIP is a young field with an incredible potential impact reaching from the way we understand fundamental physics to technological applications. I will give an introduction to quantum information by stressing recent interesting developments. I will also comment on the effort in this field at Waterloo and in Canada.