Skoltech and MIPT have partnered with Hunan Normal University, Tsinghua University, and the University of Science and Technology of China to co-organize the International Workshop on Quantum Information in Zhangjiajie, China. The location is known for its picturesque landscape with “floating mountains.” About 120 participants from more than 10 Russian and Chinese universities and institutions attended the workshop on July 4-8.

“The workshop was made possible by the long-term productive cooperation of scientists from the organizing institutions, which also resulted in a joint Russian-Chinese project between the Russian Science Foundation and the National Natural Science Foundation of China — New Physical Approaches to Quantum Informatics and Quantum Optics with Superconducting Systems,” said Oleg Astafiev, the conference co-chair and a professor of the Physics Center at Skoltech, who also heads the Laboratory of Artificial Quantum Systems at MIPT.

On July 5, Astafiev opened the professional program with the lecture “The Coherent Quantum Phase Slip Effect in Superconducting Nanowires.” The title effect is fundamental to superconductivity and is a breakthrough result for metrology applications.

The symposium continued with plenary sessions on superconductivity and quantum physics: computing, communication, metrology, and informatics. Professor Zhihui Peng from Hunan Normal University — the main organizer of the symposium — talked about quantum optics experiments on superconducting quantum systems. And Professor Xiaobo Zhu from the University of Science and Technology of China gave a lecture on the development of China’s superconducting quantum processor, a direct competitor to the Google and IBM processors. Among the Russian scientists at the event were Professor Valery Ryazanov from the Institute of Solid State Physics of the Russian Academy of Science and Mikhail Skvortsov from Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics and MIPT.

Young researchers from Skoltech and MIPT also attended the conference and presented their work in the field of superconducting quantum technology.

“The event went beyond the framework of partnership. It became a platform not only for the exchange of results between the researchers, but also for strengthening and developing the Russian-Chinese scientific cooperation: Researchers and institutions made new contacts and outlined ways of expanding the partnership. Young researchers of Skoltech and MIPT gained additional experience in international communication, and now they have new friendly and scientific  ties,” Astafiev summed up.