Dear all

The NCCR QSIT organizes periodically a 'Special Lecture for Master and PhD Students'. This semester the lecture will be given by Leo Kouwenhoven. He is recognized to give outstanding and comprehensive talks. Furthermore he will give the Physics Colloquium later on the same day and the lecture will serve as background.

With best regards, Ilona Blatter

------------- Date: Wednesday November 2, 2011 Time: 12:45 -14:30 Place: HPV G5

Quantum Physics in Nanowires and Nanotubes Leo Kouwenhoven, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Our nanowires (diameter ~50nm, length ~5micron) consist of semiconducting material such as InAs, InP or InSb. We choose these materials for their specific advantages with respect to optical properties (e.g. single photon sources), induced-superconductivity and strong spin-orbit interaction. We define small, nanoscale devices such as quantum dots and superconducting rings. The phenomena that we study are qubits and funny Josephson junctions. The funniest of all would be one with Majorana Fermions in the junction. Our carbon nanotubes are fabricated in a special way such they remain ultra-clean. The consequence of this cleanliness is that the mechanical vibration of a freely suspended nanotube can undergo about a million (!) oscillations before it is damped.

Things to read: S. Nadj-Perge, S.M. Frolov, E.P.A.M. Bakkers and L.P. Kouwenhoven Spin-orbit qubit in a semiconductor nanowire, Nature 468, 1084-1087 (2010)

--------------------------------------------------- ETH Zurich Dr. Ilona Blatter QSIT Coordinator Laboratory for Solid State Physics HPF E 17 Schafmattstrasse 16 8093 Zurich

ilona.blatter@phys.ethz.ch www.qsit.ethz.ch www.nccr-qsit.ethz.ch

Phone: +41 44 633 36 06 Home: +41 44 844 42 50

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ETH Zurich Dr. Ilona Blatter NCCR QSIT Coordinator Laboratory for Solid State Physics HPF E 17 Schafmattstrasse 16 8093 Zurich

ilona.blatter@phys.ethz.ch www.nccr-qsit.ethz.ch

Phone: +41 44 633 36 06 Home: +41 44 844 42 50