Abstract

The last decade has seen a revolution in the variety and size of physical systems which can be subjected to coherent quantum control. Given sufficiently sophisticated fabrication, certain collective degrees of freedom can be engineered so as to enable coherent quantum control. Engineered quantum systems are now moving beyond single technology platforms towards hybrid systems. Examples include combining optical and microwave control of electron and nuclear spins in solids such as NV diamond, combining superconducting electronic circuits with trapped ions and molecules and interfacing microwave and optical cavities via nanomechanical and micro mechanical quantum resonators. The continued development of this field will require a more systems-level engineering perspective to address such issues as; noise and decoherence in complex, multi-platform systems, quantum and classical control of diverse physical components with diverse timescales, in-line quantum information processing and quantum memories, coexistence of discrete and continuous dynamics etc. In this talk I will give some examples of how these issues arise in the context of particular hybrid quantum systems and give some examples of possible quantum enabled technologies based on hybrid quantum systems.