All are cordially invited to attend

Abstract: Topological quantum computation has recently emerged as an exciting way of carrying out fault tolerant quantum computation using non-Abelian quasiparticle braiding in topological materials. I will discuss a number of physical systems, e.g. fractional quantum Hall states, chiral p-wave superconductors, p-wave cold atom superfluids, suitably designed optical lattices, rotating BEC systems, etc. where the possibility for doing topological quantum computation has been discussed in the recent literature. I will try to provide a perspective on how realistic such ideas are likely to be and what the (very difficult) physics issues are which would have to be addressed before laboratory topological quantum computation can happen. I will also provide an introductory review of the basic ideas underlying quantum topological matter, Abelian and non-Abelian anyons, fractional quantum Hall effect, and quasiparticle braiding. The subject matter of this lecture brings together quantum computation, topological quantum field theory, materials science, conformal field theory, topology, string theory, Jones polynomials, and quantum Hall effects. Basic concepts will be emphasized in the lecture.

About the Speaker: Sankar Das Sarma is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland where he also serves as the Director of the Condensed Matter Theory Center at the Department of Physics. He is a theoretical condensed matter physicist with wide expertise in many body theory and strong correlation physics. Professor Das Sarma is internationally well-known for his work on electronic properties of low dimensional systems, quantum Hall effects, spintronics, nonequlibrium statistical mechanics, and quantum computation. His work has been highly cited in the literature, and he is one of the ISI Highly-Cited Researchers. He received his Ph.D. from Brown University and has been a professor at the University of Maryland since 1982. He has earlier delivered the Rippon Lecture and the C.K. Majumdar Memorial Lecture at IACS.