Introduction
Our research group designs radically new software and technology with world-changing potential. Based on the fundamental laws of quantum physics, we aim to explore and develop uses of quantum computers and other quantum technologies at large, for the benefit of society. Our group is heavily involved in QuSoft, the Dutch research center for quantum software.
We perform excellent, foundational and multidisciplinary research in the science domains of computer science, mathematics and physics. An overarching challenge for our group is to harness and characterize the power of quantum information through the development of new protocols, algorithms, mathematics, and applications that can be run on small to full-scale prototypes of a quantum computer.
Quantum information science addresses a broad range of insights and questions that arise as soon as information is processed according to the rules of quantum mechanics. Reasoning based on quantum notions such as superposition and entanglement leads to applications in computer science, mathematics, physics that do not always need an actual physical device. Some successful examples include an algorithm for matrix multiplication, solving problems in operator algebras and functional analysis, and answering fundamental questions about error-correcting codes. In the realm of physics, quantum information can be used in the study of non-locality, quantum thermodynamics, condensed matter systems, and even the structure of space-time itself. This research line also addresses quantum network and communication protocols, and distributed quantum computation.
The main aim in the area of post-quantum cryptography is the development of cryptography that is difficult to break for attackers armed with large quantum computers. The goals are to improve existing schemes for this, to develop new efficient quantum-safe protocols and to analyze attacks that can be run on large quantum computers.
The central problem driving the area of quantum algorithms is to determine which computational tasks are amenable to quantum speed-up. This research line addresses this fundamental question and develops and investigates new quantum algorithms. This activity is focused on the many-qubit regime, where full-fledged error correction and fault tolerant computation becomes possible. Important research questions are the verification and debugging of quantum algorithms – the very nature of quantum computing preempts methods known from classical computer science and calls for fundamentally new strategies and protocols.
Publications
Algorithms & Complexity Group publications in the CWI repository
Seminars
Our group hosts (roughly) weekly QuSoft seminars (click on 'Seminars'). See also the QuSoft YouTube channel.
