MAT Seminar: Reciprocity of Space Missions and Quantum Technologies

MAT Seminar: Reciprocity of Space Missions and Quantum Technologies

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Speaker: Özgür Müstecaplıoğlu

Title: Reciprocity of Space Missions and Quantum Technologies

Date/Time: April 24, 2019  /  13.40-14.30

Place: FENS G032

Abstract:  Both the space missions and development of quantum mechanics are among the greatest scientific achievements of mankind. Very recently, these enterprises have shown promising mutual benefits for further development of human civilization. Progress in the miniaturization of quantum entangled photon sources and small satellites promise a future  global secure quantum internet and communication network while at the same time physicists can explore fundamental questions of the interplay among quantum correlations, relativity, and gravitation. Unprecedented tests of conventional quantum theory against collapse theories and nonlinear quantum mechanics can be performed in the space environment. 

High precision planetary observation, mineral and resource exploration in space can benefit from quantum metrology devices based upon studies of quantum noise. In the first part of this talk, we will present an overview of relevant quantum concepts and technologies from the perspective of space missions. In the second part of the talk, we will describe the 

research we undertake at our Quantum Enabling System Technologies Team (QuEST) at Koç University, (https://quest.ku.edu.tr/) which is a bit way off the beaten path. We will focus on how the interplay of thermodynamics and quantum information could pave the way towards novel quantum technologies such as quantum fuel powered nano-robots, compact quantum refrigerators, and non-volatile, safe, high-density quantum batteries that can help space missions and colonization of space.

 

BIO: Prof. Özgür E. Müstecaplıoğlu received his PhD from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey in 1999, under the supervision of Prof. A. Shumovsky. He was a visiting research student at University of Toronto in 1998 in the Photonic Band Gap group of Prof. S. John. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow within the GeorgiaTech Ultracold Atoms group until 2002, when he was appointed Assistant Professor at KU. In 2012 he became Full Professor at KU. He has been inducted to the Turkish Science Academy Society (2013) and received prestigious national research awards such as the Mustafa Parlar Research Award (2009), TUBITAK Research Encouragement Award (2007) and the Turkish Academy of Science Young Scientist Award (2004). He was elected as an Outstanding Referee of American Physical Society in 2012. He has held visiting academic positions at Queen's University Belfast (2016), Princeton University (2014), and ETHZ (2010). He has contributed to a wide range of fields, including plasmonics, nanophotonics, ultracold atoms, quantum information, quantum decoherence, cavity QED, stochastic and quantum thermodynamics, optomechanics, and optical properties of semiconductors. 

Contact: Emre Erdem