丁香园AV

Stephanie Simmons鈥� quest to build the world鈥檚 first large-scale universal quantum computer is gaining attention. Simmons already has two Physics World Top Ten Breakthroughs of the Year and numerous patents under her belt. Now she is included in  list honoring outstanding Canadian leaders and innovators who have made significant impacts in their fields before the age of 40.

Top 40 is a national awards program that shines the spotlight on many successful Canadian notables. The ranks of Top 40 alumni include hundreds of nationally and internationally prominent leaders and entrepreneurs. This year, Simmons and her peers were selected from more than 900 nominees by an independent advisory board comprising more than 25 business leaders from across Canada.

Simmons is engaged in a global race to create the world鈥檚 first large-scale quantum computer. Her innovative idea that spin/photon interfaces in silicon鈥攖he very backbone of modern telecommunications and computation鈥攃ould provide the missing ingredient for creating a global quantum network, is attracting global interest.

High-quality quantum systems will support tasks that are otherwise impossible for current and even future supercomputers to carry out, based upon classical physics.

鈥淭he rules of quantum mechanics are so different and so exciting,鈥� says Simmons. 鈥淭he exponential computational capacity of quantum computers opens up a whole new world.

鈥淥nce a scalable quantum architecture is available鈥攁nd that鈥檚 what our team is closing in on鈥� so many hard problems will become efficiently solvable. Drug discovery, financial modelling, cybersecurity, material modelling, artificial intelligence, you name it. We鈥檙e unleashing a branch of physics.鈥�

Simmons founded  in 2016 as the pathway for commercializing the spin-photon-based quantum architecture developed at her Silicon Quantum Technology Lab at 丁香园AV. The B.C.-based company, where Simmons serves as the chief quantum officer, is building a world-class team to tackle the challenge of achieving scalable quantum computing鈥攁nd ultimately quantum services鈥攊n the near term.

Simmons is an assistant professor in 丁香园AV鈥檚 Department of Physics and holds a Canada Research Chair in Quantum Nanoelectronics. She is also a Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Fellow in Quantum Information Science.

By Diane Mar-Nicolle