Raymond Laflamme
Director
Institute for Quantum Computing
University of Waterloo
(519) 888 4567 ext. 32430
E-mail Raymond
Raymond Laflamme is originally from Québec City, where he studied Physics as an undergraduate at the Université Laval. After surviving Part III of the Mathematical Tripos at the University of Cambridge, he completed his PhD on aspects of general relativity and quantum cosmology in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) under the direction of Stephen Hawking. Laflamme and his colleague Don Page are responsible for having changed Hawking's mind on the reversal of the direction of time in a contracting universe (see Hawking’s book, A Brief History of Time).
From 1988-1992, Laflamme held a Killam post-doctoral fellowship at UBC, and a post-doctoral fellowship at Peterhouse College, University of Cambridge. From 1992-2001, Dr. Laflamme worked as a research scientist at Los Alamos Research Laboratory, where his interests shifted from cosmology to quantum computing.
Since the mid-1990’s, Laflamme has developed theoretical approaches to quantum error correction, and has given experimental demonstrations of these techniques. In collaboration with Emmanuel Knill, Laflamme gave conditions for quantum error correcting codes, and established the fault-tolerance threshold, thereby showing that quantum computing systems could be practically useful. He went on to perform the first experimental demonstration of quantum error correction. With colleagues, he has developed a blueprint for a quantum information processor using linear optics, and devised and implemented new methods to make quantum information robust against corruption in both cryptographic and computational settings.
In 2001, Laflamme returned to Canada as the founding Director of the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), and as a founding member of the Perimeter Institute For Theoretical Physics. Dr. Laflamme is the founding Scientific Director of QuantumWorks, Canada’s national research consortium on quantum information science, and has been Director of the Quantum Information Program at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) since 2003, and a CIFAR Fellow since 2001. Dr. Laflamme holds the Canada Research Chair in Quantum Information, and is a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo.
Dr. Laflamme’s group holds the world record for the largest quantum computer achieved to date, at 12 qubits.
Quantum information: Understanding the impact of manipulating information using the laws of quantum mechanics.
Robust quantum control: Developing methods to protect quantum information against noise through quantum control and quantum error correction for quantum computing and quantum cryptography.
Experimental quantum information processing: Implementing ideas and concepts of quantum information processing using nuclear magnetic resonance and developing scalable methods to control quantum systems.
Physical systems for quantum information processing: Developing “blueprints” for quantum information processors using various approaches such as linear optics quantum computing (LOQC).
Simulation of quantum systems: Finding ways to simulate quantum systems using quantum information processors.
Director, Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, April 2002-present.
Associate Researcher at Perimeter Institute, September 2001-present.
Professor, Department of Physics, University of Waterloo, September 2001-present.
Scientific Director, QuantumWorks, June 2006-present.
Director, Quantum Information Program at CIFAR, October 2003-present.
Technical staff member, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1997-2001.
Oppenheimer Fellow, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1994-1997.
Post-Doctoral Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1992-1994.
Research Fellow at Peterhouse College, Cambridge, UK, 1990-1992.
Killam Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia, 1988-1990.
Research Interests
Quantum Information
Robust Quantum Control
Experimental Quantum Information Processing
Physical Systems for Quantum Information Processing
Simulation of Quantum Systems
Recent Public Outreach, Interviews & Reports
A summary of the Quantum to Cosmos Festival
The Agenda with Steve Paikin: Wired 24/7, TVO
Scientific advisor for Quantum Tamers
Nature Magazine Article.
CM Chandrashekar, R. Srikanth, and R. Laflamme. “Optimizing the discrete time quantum walk using a su(2) coin.” Physical Review A, 77:032326, 2008.
C.A. Ryan, M. M. Laforest, and R. Laflamme. “Randomized benchmarking of single and multi-qubit control in liquid-state NMR quantum information processing.” 2008.
J. Zhang, F.M. Cucchietti, C. Chandrashekar, M. Laforest, C.A. Ryan, M. Ditty, A. Hubbard, J.K. Gamble, and R. Laflamme. “Direct observation of quantum criticality in ising spin chains.” Physical Review A 79, 012305 (2009).
C. Erven, C. C. Couteau, R. Laflamme, and G. Weihs. “Entangled quantum key distribution over two free-space optical links.” 2008.
E. Bocquillon, C. Couteau, M. Razavi, R. Laflamme, and G. Weihs. “Coherence measures for heralded single-photon sources.” 2008.
R. Ursin, T. Jennewein, J. Kofler, J.M. Perdigues, L. Cacciapuoti, C.J. de Matos, M. Aspelmeyer, A. Valencia, T. Scheidl, A. Fedrizzi, A. Acin, C. Barbieri, G. Bianco, C. Brukner, J. Capmany, S. Cova, D. Giggenbach, W. Leeb, R.H. Hadfield, R. Laflamme, N. Lutkenhaus, G. Milburn, M. Peev, T. Ralph, J. Rarity, R. Renner, E. Samain, N. Solomos, W. Tittel, J.P. Torres, M. Toyoshima, A. Ortigosa-Blanch, V. Pruneri, P. Villoresi, I. Walmsley, G. Weihs, H. Weinfurter, M. Zukowski, and A. Zeilinger. “Space-quest: Experiments with quantum entanglement in space.” Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), 2008.
C.A Ryan, C. Negrevergne, M. Laforest, E. Knill, and R. Laflamme. “Liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance as a testbed for developing quantum control methods.” Physical Review A, 78:012328, 2008. C.A Ryan, O. Moussa, J. Baugh, and R. Laflamme. “Spin based heat engine: Demonstration of multiple rounds of algorithmic cooling.” Physical Review Letters, 100:140501, 2008.
Papers for R. Laflamme on arXiv.org