Splash Biography

This ambitious course will cover a plethora of topics ranging from your high school AP calculus all the way to quantum physics. We will divide the course into two major chapters, learning about the beauty of quantum physics, and applying the knowledge of quantum physics to a marvel of industry, quantum computers. In this course we will use powerful math tools to lead ourselves to beautiful physics. This will again show that nature is artistic and rigorous at the same time. We will begin the course with a quick overview of calculus, an easy-to-understand intro to simple differential equations, and a very basic intro of linear algebra covering matrix-vector multiplication and eigenvalues. These will allow us to look at the “Rosetta stone” of quantum mechanics, Schrodinger equation, with a keen pair of eyes. We will show you how the Schrodinger equation is solved in a classic problem called the infinite square well. This will demonstrate what scientists mean by saying that objects in quantum mechanics are at many places at the same time. This is also the more detailed version of the notorious Schrodinger’s cat, which bothers many people by its “the cat is both alive and dead, and looking inside the box would determine its fate”. After this, we will attempt a qualitative and picturesque overview of quantum optics, quantum field theory, and string theory. These theories will present to you how everyday phenomena like light can be bizarre in the extreme limit, how physicists incessantly ponder for the fundamental granulates of matter, and how physicists use strings to tie together quantum mechanics and Einstein’s general relativity. That was a lot for the physics side of this course! We will then look into quantum computing, a very promising piece of technology using quantum physics to calculate extremely fast, faster than any supercomputers. We will tell the legend of a qubit, quantum entanglement, and how you can make secure encryption protocol possible. We will also review the 2019 Google breakthrough with their Sycamore quantum chip and the 2020 USTC breakthrough with their Jiuzhang optical quantum computer. Are you excited about all these? To better prepare you for going into physics in college, in the end, we will provide you with an overview of the undergraduate physics curriculum. If time permits, we will also talk about our current research projects.