Qubit Dynamics and Quantum Control

The students will learn fundamental methods and approaches to manipulating and controlling qubits (in the absence and in the presence of noise), which are used in virtually all existing architectures for quantum information processing. The students will study

* fundamental notions used for description and analysis of the qubit dynamics

* typical approaches to manipulation and control of most qubits, from superconducting qubits to trapped ions and atoms;

* basic concepts, such as rotating-frame description of qubits, Rabi driving, decoherence by noise, and decoherence suppression via dynamical decoupling.

* basic regimes of qubit dynamics and their theoretical description, basic approaches to description and analysis of the qubit decoherence by noise and by environment, as well as basic approaches to qubit manipulation and decoherence suppression.

Assessment will consist of the four tests given during the course, and the group project to be performed during the course and presented at the end of the course. Besides, optional (but graded) homework assignments will be given after each lecture.

To pass the course, the final grade should be equal or above 6.0, and the grade for the group project should be equal or above 6.0.

The final grade will be determined as the average grade over the tests. If the grade for the project improves the final grade, then it will be taken into account according to the formula [final grade] = 0.75*[average grade for the tests]+0.25*[final project grade]. Similarly, the average grade for the homework assignments will be taken into account only if it improves the final grade; in that case, the final grade will be determined as [final grade] = 0.15*[average homework grade] + 0.6*[average test grade]+0.25*[final project grade].

If the student wants to improve the final grade then they can take a resit exam over the content of the whole course, and the final grade will be the highest of the two grades, the average grade over the tests/homework/project, and the grade for the resit exam.