(Spring 2018) CS 410/510 - Intro to Quantum Computing

Announcement

  • Welcome! Please enroll on Piazza here.

About

The law of quantum physics enables quantum computing, a revolutionary paradigm of computation. A host of fundamental problems can be solved efficiently on a quantum computer, sometimes expoentially faster than what is possible on a classical computer. The power of quantum computing has promising applications such as in chemistry, machine learning, and cryptography (security backbone of the Internet will be broken by quantum attackers!).

In this course, we will study the basic principles and techniques of quantum computing, and discuss some of the applications. The goal is to equip you with the essential tools to appreciate, further explore and (even better) devote to this exciting research area. Tentative topics include: quantum states and circuits, entanglement, quantum algorithms (e.g., Grover’s search and Shor’s factoring algorithms), quantum complexity theory, quantum error correction, and applications in cryptography.

  • Prerequisite: maturity in algorithm analysis and mathematics (espeically linear algebra, basic probability thoery and group thoery). Quantum mechanics is helpful, but NOT required. This course will be theory-oriented involving reading and writing lots of mathematical proofs. I strongly recommend you skimming through the first few lectures of these notes by Watrous PDF and by Vazirani link to get a sense what we will be dealing with. If you feel uncertain, please email me to set an appoinment, and I’d be happy to discuss with you.
  • Syllabus: PDF, and also on the ADMIN page.
  • Instructor: Prof. Fang Song @ FAB 120-07. Email: fsong “AT” pdx.edu.
  • Lectures: MW 2:00 - 3:50 pm @ FAB 10
  • Office hours: M 4 - 5pm, Th 1 - 2pm, and by appointment.
  • Text: no required ones. We will primarily follow lecture notes and read research papers. See the resource page for recommended books and other useful materials related to the course.
  • Piazza: This term we will be using Piazza for class discussion. Find our class page here. The system is highly catered to getting you help fast and efficiently from classmates and myself. I encourage you to post your questions on Piazza.

Fun stuff

“What Quantum Computing Isn’t” by Scott Aaronson @ TEDxDresden