QISKIT Global Summer School 2020
Out of all the “unpleasant” things that happened this year, this is one event, that made me happy, overjoyed, and motivated to work for a better future. Even though I have used QISKIT a year ago for my semester project simulations, when I got an email about this opportunity I didn’t hesitate to sign up instantly! The last Qiskit camp was in Tokyo, in November 2019 with only 200 participants and I always seemed to have been too late for such events. Luckily, this time I signed up just in time to be within the first 2000 registrations for the lab as well as the lectures.
On 19th July we got invited to the Discord Servers and it was buzzing and exploding with random messages and about 1000+ people buzzing in. Being a Sunday, there were lots of doubts, questions,requests, issues, but one thing that was prominent was the enthusiasm for something this large and everyone was super excited.
Day 1–2
I have attended many online webinars and seminar and talks in this WFH scenario and I couldn’t believe my eyes to the count of people that turned up to learn and listen to Quantum Computing, which is relatively new and not a buzz yet. It was thrilling, surprising, and yet profoundly motivating to be part of this new adventure that this school had to offer.
The school began with introductory to Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Algorithms of Ket Notations, Quantum Teleportation, Phase Kickback, and Deutsch-Jozsa Algorithms taught by Elis Baumer. The 3-hour lectures had 10-min breaks for questions and feedback which was essential to address the countless newcomer doubts and nearly all were answered. The lectures were followed by lab sessions to implement and simulate the algorithms using QISKIT on Jupyter-Notebooks.
Day 3 began with a wonderful and lucid explanation of Quantum Fourier Transform and using it to obtain Quantum Phase Estimation. It was a wonderful Abraham Asfaw who meticulously explained how to use QFT as a component to extract Unitary-phase eigenvalues, which is Phase Estimation.
The following day we learnt to use the power of superposition in the Fourier Basis to extract the prime factors of a number, or better knows as Shor’s Algorithm. His explanation was so simplified that people with almost no Physics background had to say this
Day 5 was all about error correction and repetition code to counteract errors on small scale devices by James Wootton. I’ve known about surface-codes and implementing simulations was interesting, although for some reason error-correction is pretty daunting. It irks me for some reason I can’t explain.
The first week was over and I realized that I refreshed …
A semester worth coursework on Quantum Information in a week with practical implementation!
It was unbelievable and it surprising how something as complex as Quantum Information could be condensed and delivered using video lectures and hands-on simulation and implementation that takes weeks of chalk and board work.
Day 6–7 was about Superconducting Circuits and how to build a Quantum Device capable of running algorithms using Non-Linear Josephson Junctions. Although I am familiar with circuit Quantum Electrodynamics, due to my undergraduate research projects, it felt comfortable to hear all about it from Zlatko Minev. It was accompanied by lab sessions to drive qubits using pulses and visualize Rabi Oscillations!
Learning how to map Fermionic states to qubits on Day 8 from Antonio Mezzacapo and Abhinav Kandala laid the foundation on how to Variational Eigensolvers to find the ground state of Hydrogen and other molecules for Quantum Chemistry Simulations. The variational principle was always used to find the lowest eigenvalue of a hamiltonian, but implementing it was a totally new experience.
Day 10 , they definitely saved the best for the last with a panel discussion of the most famous people in industry and academia to hear about career choices and advice from
The discussion was enlightening about whether we need a Ph.D. to work in Quantum Computing, and the broad prospects of the field that even CS graduates and people from other diverse backgrounds can contribute is the encouragement we all need.
My favorite question amidst the discussion was “how to understand if a Quantum Computing startup is not selling me snake oil?” questioned the practicality of the field and how to avoid the sci-fi hype that often accompanies it. The discussion ended with some future hopes to simulate Quantum Gravity with Quantum computers and advice for enthusiasts. The only advice that’s ringing in my ears was from John Preskill, “Listen to no one, just do what makes you happy and have fun along with it”, which summarizes the whole Summer School Experience for me.
It’s sad that such a great experience spanning two weeks had to end, but definitely, it was a great ending and I had accumulated new friends (virtual ones though), formed new groups, chatted in countless new forums, WhatsApp groups and interacted with so many people sharing resources, solving their problems and learning something new in return, I’m grateful to the organizers, mentors, and it has been amazing to see virtual events feel (quite nearly) as enriching as real ones.