John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for experiments that first showed quantum tunnelling and energy quantization in a "macroscopic" electrical circuit. In this talk, I will describe the experiments they performed using a Josephson junction, a superconducting electrical circuit element. I will explain how their choice of system and skilful engineering, enabled the observation of quantum effects. These first experiments led to the use of superconducting circuits for quantum bits, now a leading approach to building quantum computers.
About the speaker:Dr. Vijayaraghavan is an Associate Professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. He carried out his doctoral research at Yale University with Prof. Michel Devoret, who is one of the recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2025. This was followed by postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley where he collaborated with the other two Nobel Laureates, John Clarke and John Martinis.
He is currently leading several projects to build small to medium scale quantum processors with funding from DAE, DST, DRDO, TCS and the National Quantum Mission. He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore and was awarded the inaugural Pancharatnam prize for excellence in quantum science and technology by the Government of Karnataka in July 2025.
Chai and Why?
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Chai and Why? TIFR's informal science interaction forum open to all.
01/03/2025
In the midst of National Science Day hectivity, forgot to announce that our regular 1st Sunday Chai and Why? session
will be happening as always! We will have Prof. Anand Sawant, from the School of Math at TIFR speak about the the math behind college admissions, train reservations & stability of relationships.
Live on YT if you can't make it!
https://www.youtube.com/live/2NJ-Zby4bcs
08/01/2025
Geometry is a very basic notion that we use in our everyday life. In general relativity, we explain the force of gravity using the geometry of spacetime.
Recent theoretical ideas suggest that this spacetime geometry could be associated to quantum entanglement, a fundamental quantum mechanical property.
In this talk, we will describe these ideas using various analogies
and intuitive explanations.
NOTE:
1. Attendees may avail TIFR Buses (on first come first served basis) from CSMT/Churchgate during from 03:45 pm to 04:15 pm at an interval of ~15 minutes each.
2. Please click here for boarding points ( https://maps.app.goo.gl/iFzHigy5wMUdmZHs7 CSMT / https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZN5GLDeBM11wPgWs9 Churchgate)
3. Alternately, BEST bus route numbers 3, 11, 125 from CSMT and no 137 from Churchgate could be availed to travel to Navy Nagar. TIFR is at 5 min walking distance from the last stop.
PS: Please carry a govt issued photo id card in original and on request, display it to the security personnel on-duty.
07/12/2024
Science Theatre at Mumbai!
After four successful shows across three cities - Hyderabad (TIFR Hyderabad & Rangbhoomi Spaces), Kolkata (Science City) and the most recent show at the National School of Drama-Delhi - TIFR Hyderabad is staging the last show of the science themed play Nilanjan P Choudhury's 'The Square Root of a Sonnet' at the Homi Bhabha Auditorium, TIFR Colaba, Mumbai.
We cordially invite you to the last show of this play with this quite the stellar (we have been told!) cast and crew!
📅 Event Details:
🗓️ Date: December 08, 2024 (Sunday)
🕖 Time: 5 PM - 7 PM
📍 Venue: Homi Bhabha Auditorium, TIFR Mumbai
🎥 Watch the Trailer: https://youtu.be/kadlWQb7eYA
🎬 About the Play: The play explores the intriguing and complex relationship between two giants of modern astrophysics - the Nobel Laureate Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and his mentor Sir Arthur Eddington. Witness this story of ambition, friendship and betrayal set against the backdrop of the two great world wars, the Indian freedom struggle and the birth of the strange new sciences of relativity and quantum mechanics. Don't miss this chance to witness history, science, and drama come alive!
Book your (free) seat here!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-square-root-of-a-sonnet-science-theatre-tickets-1091045579699?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl
11/11/2024
26/10/2023
Have you ever pondered about the potency of light? How do powerful lights, particularly lasers, interact with matter? Is it possible to employ such lights to fashion a star-like environment on a tabletop? How does this light shape matter and subsequently reshape itself?
Welcome to the upcoming session of ‘Chai and Why?’, where we seek to unravel the answers to these questions.
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A405OCd3QQ
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