Nobel Laureate John Martinis, Prehistoric Quantum Bits

The Frontiers of Physics Lecture Series brings renowned scientists to the UW to offer free lectures on exciting advances in physics with the goal of fostering an appreciation of science and technology in our community. This spring we are honored to welcome Dr. John Martinis, 2025 Nobel Laureate in Physics.

Free and open to the public.

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Registration is required for in-person and virtual attendance. They expect tickets to this event to sell out quickly, so please register early and let them know if your plans change.

## About the Lecture

## Quantum mechanics was developed to describe the physics of the small, for fundamental particles, atoms and molecules. But does it still work for macroscopic systems? My PhD thesis experiment in 1985 tested this idea, showing the macroscopic current and voltages in a 1 cm chip obey the quantum phenomena of tunneling and energy-level quantization, proving that a superconducting circuit can behave as a single 'artificial atom.' Over the last four decades, many physicists around the world have continued research on quantum devices. The field has evolved from fundamental tests into a high-stakes effort to build quantum bits and a quantum computer. At Google, our 'quantum supremacy' experiment was the culmination of this system-level optimization, proving that a processor could outpace classical supercomputers by maintaining high-fidelity control over a huge computational (Hilbert) space. Now, at my startup Qolab, we are leveraging 300mm semiconductor fabrication to achieve the extreme uniformity and yield necessary to build a useful general-purpose quantum computer.