DAMP Physics, IITB

Instructor Name:  Prof. Sai Vinjanampathy Course Type:  Honours/Elective Pre-requisites:  Basic quantum mechanics (schrodinger's equation, particle in a box, simple harmonic ladder operators, dirac notation) - but these were revised from the very basics - so not a hard prerequisite. Course Content:  Open Quantum Systems Theory (composite systems, density matrices, partial traces and Schmidt decomposition, CPTP maps, Kraus representation, Stinesping dilation, Choi & Jamiałkowski isomorphism), Geometry of quantum states, separability and entanglement, Bell’s inequalities, Entropy, Entanglement & Measures Other topics covered:  Algorithms - super dense coding, DQC-1, Shor, Grover.  Books:  Quantum Computation and Quantum Information - Nielsen and Chuang, The Theory of Open Quantum Systems - Breuer & Petruccione Lectures:  No attendance was taken. Everything was taught on the blackboard - additional topics were taught using pres...

"Ask Me Anything!" with Prof. Sai Vinjanampathy Research Interests :   I am interested in understanding quantum physics and applying it to future quantum technologies. Though many of you have heard of quantum computers, the areas of future technology where quantum mechanics can make a difference are numerous. What physicists are doing now in this emergent technology area is to chalk out what the physics of these devices should be such that they outperform their classical counterparts. I divide this research interest into three broad areas: quantum information theory (QIT), quantum control theory (QCT) and quantum thermodynamics (QTh). I currently teach a course in QIT in the department, so I presume not much introduction is needed for this topic. In QIT, I am currently mainly interested in measuring and characterising memory (non-Markovianity) in quantum systems. In QCT, I work on a variety of problems related to realistic experimental design, trying to design fas...