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INFO-H514

Quantum information and computation

academic year
2024-2025

Course teacher(s)

Ognyan Oreshkov (Coordinator)

ECTS credits

5

Language(s) of instruction

english

Course content

Introduction

  • Basic principles of quantum mechanics (pure and mixed states, unitary evolution)
  • Quantum measurements (projective and positive operator valued measure)
  • Notion of quantum bit
  • Quantum no-cloning theorem

Quantum entanglement 

  • Separability vs entanglement of pure and mixed states
  • Nonlocality (EPR paradox and Bell inequalities)
  • Dense coding and teleportation

Quantum cryptography

  • BB84 protocol for quantum key distribution
  • Entanglement-based quantum key distribution

Quantum computing

  • Quantum circuits and universal gates
  • Phase kickback: Deutsch's and Deutsch-Jozsa’s algorithms
  • Amplitude amplification: Grover’s search algorithm
  • Quantum Fourier transform: Bernstein-Vazirani's algorithm, Simon's algorithm, Shor’s factoring algorithm

Quantum error correction

  • Decoherence and quantum channels (basics)
  • Classical error correction
  • 3-qubit repetition code
  • Shor’s 9-qubit code
  • Fault tolerance (basics)

Objectives (and/or specific learning outcomes)

The final objectives are

  • to familiarise the students with the basic properties of quantum information, in particular how it differs from classical information and how it can be processed keeping quantum coherence;
  • to expose how these properties can be exploited in different communication and computation applications, analyzing in particular the notion of quantum algorithms;
  • to confront the students with current challenges in the field of quantum information and computation, both from a physics and computer science perspective.

Learning outcomes:

At the end of the course students are able to

  • understand the basics of quantum information theory and its main applications;
  • solve simple problems in quantum information and computation;
  • design and analyse simple quantum algorithms using basic tools such as phase kickback and amplitude amplification.

Teaching methods and learning activities

  • Theory courses
  • Exercice sessions

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

  • Michael A. Nielsen and Isaac L. Chuang. Quantum Computation and Quantum Information. Cambridge University Press, 2000
  • John Preskill. Lecture notes for the course “Physics 219/Computer Science 219” at Caltech. See in particular chapter 6 for quantum computation: http://www.theory.caltech.edu/~preskill/ph219/index.html#lecture
  • David Mermin. Quantum Computer Science; An introduction. Cambridge Univ Press, 2007

Course notes

  • Université virtuelle

Other information

Contacts

Ognyan ORESHKOV (Ognyan.Oreshkov@ulb.be)

Campus

Solbosch

Evaluation

Method(s) of evaluation

  • Oral examination

Oral examination

Final assessment: open book oral exam

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

The oral exam is graded on a total of 20.

Language(s) of evaluation

  • english

Programmes