Prof. Lieven Vandersypen is the 2008 recipient of the Nicholas Kurti European Science Prize. He is recognized for his ground-breaking work on the coherent control of nuclear and electron spins, with possible application to quantum information processing.
Key area of achievement recognised by the award of the prize
The coherent control of spins for possible application in quantum information processing, first using nuclear spins in molecules in liquid solution (NMR), and later using electron spins in semiconductor quantum dots.
Summary of research achievements
As a PhD student at Stanford University working at the IBM Almaden Research Center, he provided proof of principle of quantum computation by controlling up to seven nuclear spins in a molecule, using room temperature liquid state nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. A widely recognized milestone experiment was his implementation of Shor’s quantum algorithm for prime factorization of the number fifteen (15=3x5).
As a postdoc and faculty member at the Kavli Institute of NanoScience at TU Delft, Lieven Vandersypen moved to electron spins trapped in GaAs quantum dots at milliKelvin temperatures. He made essential contributions to key advances such as the implementation of single-shot read-out of a single electron spin in a GaAs quantum dot. His team went on to realize coherent rotations (Rabi oscillations) of a single electron spin in a quantum dot, first using magnetic excitation and later via electrical excitation. It contributed to our understanding of the dominant spin relaxation and dephasing mechanisms. More recently, he started exploring graphene as an alternative host material for quantum dots, which may offer far superior spin coherence times.