Research Context

Quantum theory is the physics of the fragile, cold, tiny, and isolated. It is a delicate thing to ask information of a piece of the world so alone that it behaves very nearly as a little universe unto itself; when the very nature of a system is its isolation, the consequence of even the barest external interaction is significant. Measurements, mediating all knowledge of quantum properties held by us external observers, are counted among such interactions, and are necessarily invasive. An ongoing revolution in hardware, aimed at utilizing quantum properties to radically improve computation and communication technologies, has enable experimental tests near the limits of quantum information, and brought the consequences of quantum theory's remarkable conceptual landscape into sharper focus. Alongside this technical maturation, a continued shift in perspective is also apparent: Quantum theory is as much about the exchange of information, at a scale where none may be inconsequentially wasted, as it is a theory about light, atoms, and materials.