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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · 10d

that's awesome! :)

Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · 10d

Putting my thoughts together. Why networks beat "hero" sensors and what birds can teach us.
quantum-noise.ghost.io/quantum-sens...

Quantum Sensing Like a Bird

A few nights ago I was on a panel on Quantum Sensing for Defense. Preparing for this panel crystallized some ideas for me, which I think I should write down somewhere. So here it is! When we talk abo...

quantum-noise.ghost.io

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Reposted by Amir Safavi-Naeini

Mikhail Kats @mickeykats.bsky.social · Jul 7

Did a little interview with @acs.org Axial for an ACS and @spie.org award: axial.acs.org/physical-che...

Meet the Winner of the 2026 ACS Photonics Young Investigator Lectureship Award | ACS Publications Chemistry Blog

Read an exclusive interview with the winner, Mikhail Kats, and learn more about his work and career.

axial.acs.org

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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jul 1

Omg omg omg omg

youtu.be/vkcENinRJ-g

PROJECT HAIL MARY Trailer (2025) Ryan Gosling

YouTube video by ONE Media

youtu.be

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Reposted by Amir Safavi-Naeini

Michael Brett @michaelsbrett.bsky.social · Jun 28

Watch Oskar Painter's presentation from Quantum Korea in Seoul. As Director of Quantum Hardware at AWS Center for Quantum Computing, he discusses the 'quantum tyranny of numbers' & forecasts major quantum error correction advances
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojnf...

#QuantumComputing #AWS

퀀텀 코리아 2025 키노트① Oskar Painter

YouTube video by 퀀텀코리아(Quantumkorea)

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Amir Safavi-Naeini

Dulwich Quantum Computing @dulwichquantum.bsky.social · Jun 30

Lindblad is for everyone!
arxiv.org/abs/2506.22436

Is Lindblad for me?

The Lindblad master equation is a foundational tool for modeling the dynamics of open quantum systems. As its use has extended far beyond its original domain, the boundaries of its validity have grown...

arxiv.org

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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jun 26

A major milestone in my career, as one of the self-appointed knights of quantum.

Quantum Bullshit Detector @bullshitquantum.bsky.social · Jun 25

Not bullshit

Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jun 25

A quantum computer is a physical machine that can execute quantum algorithms with at most polynomial resource scaling.

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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jun 25

Since I don’t think it’s possible to be this obtuse, I’m assuming this is just marketing for your widget.

I’m sorry I wasted my time thinking you actually wanted a definition for a quantum computer.

I’m also sorry you need to waste people’s time to sell the thing but c’est la vie.

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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jun 25

A quantum computer is a physical machine that can execute quantum algorithms with at most polynomial resource scaling.

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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jun 25

It’s not a “legal term” where I live, and my statement was clearly a conditional, so not an accusation.

Let’s stick to subjects we both understand: Are your students walking away with the clear understanding that a classical simulator with exponential scaling is not a quantum computer?

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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jun 25

Chris, you're doing educational malpractice if your students are walking away without a clear understanding of the difference between a classical simulation and an actual quantum computer. Ignoring the entire premise of quantum computing just to sell widgets isn't a noble antiestablishment position.

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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jun 25

Yes this is the right definition because the whole point of trying to build a quantum computer is their ability to do certain computations much more efficiently. It’s been central since 1982.

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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jun 25

But the most important thing IMO is centering it on scalability like Craig did.

what's wrong with this definition: A quantum computer is a physical machine that can execute quantum algorithms with at most polynomial resource scaling.

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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jun 25

Your critique of DV didn't make much sense to me:
2- it's architecture agnostic, we can at least simulate qubits, initialization, gates, etc. in any arch.
3- who cares?
4- They're criteria, not an object description. Just like "the criteria for a valid airplane" doesn't refer to a single 747.

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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jun 25

Personally I would go with a simpler definition: A quantum computer is a physical machine that can execute quantum algorithms with at most polynomial resource scaling.

DV criteria are necessary. Craig was just pointing out where your system clearly fails.

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Reposted by Amir Safavi-Naeini

John Preskill @preskill.bsky.social · Jun 21

Raymond Laflamme 1960-2025. A great scientist, renowned for his pioneering contributions to quantum error correction. A great leader, founding director of the Institute for Quantum Computing. A great colleague and teacher whose legacy continues to inspire us.
uwaterloo.ca/institute-fo...

IQC and Waterloo mourn the loss of Raymond Laflamme | Institute for Quantum Computing | University of Waterloo

Raymond Laflamme, a trailblazer in quantum information processing and pioneer of the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo, died on June 19 after a lengthy battle with ca...

uwaterloo.ca

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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jun 25

Craig did give a definition (scalability being key), and it seems much more informative and operationally useful than your definition.

Are you having trouble understanding this definition? Maybe you can point out what is unclear about it and the community can help you.

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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jun 25

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Reposted by Amir Safavi-Naeini

Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · Jun 5

He's right. "Nothing short of devastating"
By @holdenthorp.bsky.social @science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jun 4

Anti-Nazi fighter? English is a weird language.

Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · Jun 3

Michael Roukes kicking off #FNS2025, going back 30 years to the beginning of NEMs. (explaining this paper arxiv.org/abs/2505.04574 which was then rejected by APL!)

Michael Roukes presenting slide describing a converation between him, Andrew Cleland, and Tom Kenny.

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Reposted by Amir Safavi-Naeini

John Preskill @preskill.bsky.social · May 31

The building committee gets a first look at the basement of the Ginsburg Center for Quantum Precision Measurement at Caltech. We're standing where a tunnel will connect Ginsburg labs to labs in neighboring Downs Laboratory. With me are Nick Hutzler, Rana Adhikari, Michelle Effros, and Dave Hsieh.

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Reposted by Amir Safavi-Naeini

Emmanuel Flurin @manuflurin.bsky.social · May 28

New paper out! We resonantly couple a superconducting heavy-fluxonium qubit ⚛️ to a macroscopic membrane 🥁 oscillating at a few MHz. ~300 repeated interactions let us track its quantum motion, observe back-action & probe non-commuting operators. Diósi–Penrose next? (1/8)
arxiv.org/abs/2505.21481

Probing the quantum motion of a macroscopic mechanical oscillator with a radio-frequency superconducting qubit

Long-lived mechanical resonators like drums oscillating at MHz frequencies and operating in the quantum regime offer a powerful platform for quantum technologies and tests of fundamental physics. Yet,...

arxiv.org

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Amir Safavi-Naeini @safavi.bsky.social · May 20

At the beautiful Les Houches for a workshop on TFLN #photonics 💡

Here are my lecture notes:

quantum-noise.ghost.io/les-houches-...

Les Houches lecture notes

Spending a few days at Les Houches workshop on TFLN photonics 😄 Here are my lecture notes. These are currently a very rough draft, though fairly respectable looking... I used Gemini 2.5 pretty heavil...

quantum-noise.ghost.io

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Reposted by Amir Safavi-Naeini

Ethan Mollick @emollick.bsky.social · May 20

Big: The final version of a randomized, controlled World Bank study finds using a GPT-4 tutor with teacher guidance in a six week afterschool program in Nigeria had "more than twice the effect of some of the most effective interventions in education" ("equating to 1.5 to 2 years" of standard school)

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