Suggested resources

[1] Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, M. Nielsen and I. Chuang, Cambridge University Press, 2000.

[2] Microwave Engineering, D. M. Pozar, Wiley, New York, 1998.

[3] Introduction to Superconductivity, Michael Tinkham, Dover Books,1973.

 

 

Courses

PHYS 250 - Mesoscopic Physics

Graduate-level course on the physics of micro- and nano-scale solid-state systems

Offered in Fall 2025

Introduction to the physics of micro- and nano-scale solid-state systems, composed of sufficiently many particles to be solely described in terms of basic macroscopic parameters like inductance, capacitance and compliance, but fast and cold enough that effects usually associated with assemblies of a few quantum particles, like atomic energy level quantization and electron interference patterns, dominate. Emphasis is placed on quantum electronic circuits, superconducting artificial atoms and quantum nanomechanical resonators. The topics covered by the course include:

  1. Introduction and overview
    • What are mesoscopic systems and quantum machines?
    • Emergence of quantum effects at the macroscopic level
    • The degrees of freedom, energies and length scales of mesoscopic systems.
  2. Quantum signals and circuits
    • Quantum treatment of electrical signals
    • Hamiltonian formulation of circuits
    • Caldeira-Leggett representation of resistive dissipation
    • The Josephson non-linear, non-dissipative inductance
    • Number-phase conjugation relations
    • Superconducting artificial atoms: Cooper pair box, transmon, fluxonium, etc…
  3. Quantum friction and measurements
  4. Open systems and their quantum treatment. The quantum Langevin equation
    • Circuit quantum electrodynamics monitoring of artificial atomic levels, quantum jumps
    • Decoherence processes: the Purcell effect and photon induced dephasing.
  5. Quantum nanomechanics
    • Frequencies and quality factors of nanoresonators.
    • Coupling between phonons and photons by radiation pressure
    • Cooling of a nanoresonator to its ground state
  6. Landauer approach to non-interacting quasiparticle transport
    • Review of independent electron model: what is a quasiparticle?
    • Reservoirs: the mesoscopic Fermi gas
    • Ballistic electrical transport: the conductance quantum
  7. Basic single electron charging phenomena in tunnel junction circuits
    • The single electron box and the Coulomb staircase, quantum dots
    • Single electron transistors, Coulomb blockade
    • Single electron pumps and turnstiles: the metrological triangle.
  8. Mesoscopic superconductivity
    • BCS treatment of "dirty" superconductors.
    • Even-odd parity effects in superconducting devices, quasiparticle poisoning.
    • Andreev reflection and proximity effect.

PHYS 250 - Noise and Information, Dissipation and Amplification

Graduate-level course on statistical physics of open systems, treating both classical and quantum regimes.

Offered in Winter 2025

In his work on Brownian noise, Einstein unveiled one corner of a very fundamental law of Physics. This law links three properties of any physical system coupled to a "reservoir": a) its random fluctuations (noise) when in true static equilibrium, or in dynamic, steady-state equilibrium, b) its response to a small external perturbation, which can be passive (dissipation) or active (amplification) and c) the temperature of the reservoir (usually positive but sometimes negative). After having covered the basic notions in the description of noise, we will treat the different formulations of this law, also known as the fluctuation-dissipation theorem (FDT), in both the classical and quantum regime. The treatment of noise in practical physics measurements will be central. In particular, we will discuss how noise can sometimes contribute positively to measurements rather than just degrade them: Examples include spin relaxation in nuclear magnetic resonance (motional narrowing), Johnson-Nyquist and Shottky noise in solid state transport physics (noise thermometry, exploration of mesoscopic processes through their noise), photon correlation measurements in quantum optics (Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiment). The ultimate precision of a measurement, and its eventual back-action on the measured system, will be treated in the last part of the course.