Quantum computing research earns professor prestigious Cottrell Scholar Award
Yizhi You, an assistant physics professor, was named a Cottrell Scholar, which is bestowed on promising early-career academics studying chemistry, physics or astronomy.
Since coming to Northeastern in 2022, Yizhi You has focused her research on a broad range of subjects within the realm of quantum many-body physics. This includes quantum computing, an emerging field that harnesses principles of quantum physics to create machines that can work faster than a traditional computer.
You’s work has won her accolades like the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) which supports early-career faculty members who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education. Now, You has a new achievement.
The Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA), named You, an assistant physics professor at Northeastern, as one of the 24 recipients of this year’s prestigious Cottrell Scholar Award. This honor bestows promising early-career academics studying chemistry, physics or astronomy in the United States or Canada with research funding and networking opportunities.
“This is an exceptional cohort of teacher‑scholars whose innovative work fuels discovery across the physical sciences,” Eric Isaacs, President & CEO of RCSA said in a statement of this year’s cohort. “Their insights and energy will strengthen a 600‑member network of researchers, leaders, and mentors dedicated to pushing the boundaries of knowledge while shaping the future of science and science teaching in the United States and Canada.”
You received the award for a research proposal titled “A Route Map to Open Quantum Systems and Mixed States: Insights from Duality,” as part of which she and a team of postdocs will look at a concept in quantum computing called dissipation which is when a quantum system loses information due to its surrounding environment.
You said that quantum computing uses fundamental information units to encode data called qubits. Unlike classical computing bits, which can only exist as 0 or 1, qubits can exist in multiple states, which makes it easier for quantum computers to calculate complex problems very quickly. These qubits are processed whenever scientists want to run programs. But dissipation means it can be harder for qubits to store and process information reliably.
“For classical computing, this is not a problem, but for quantum computing, that dissipation plays an important role,” You explained. “If you want to store quantum information for a long period of time, then you have to figure out whether dissipations would destroy that information.”
Her research would look at whether a new method called duality could be used to better understand dissipation. Duality, You said, is a way of rewriting a difficult problem into an equivalent problem that is easier to understand.
Editor’s Picks
You’s previous award from the NSF was for exploring and advancing an understanding of the fractons, tiny particles that appear in certain materials and need to join forces with other fractons to move (unlike electrons or protons). This research can help contribute to advancements in quantum materials, quantum field theory, and quantum information science, she told NGN at the time.
“One can take advantage of their knowledge from different areas for quantum computing,” she said.
It’s this interdisciplinary nature that draws her to this particular area of research, she said. Her latest research can be used not only in quantum computing, but in quantum sensing (measuring atomic activity to provide data for better technology) and quantum communications (encoding and transmitting information between quantum systems), as she said all deal with noise and information loss.
You plans to use the funding from the Cottrell Scholar Award to purchase hardware known as graphics processing units to help research how noise and dissipation affect quantum systems and how we can better control and understand those effects. She also hopes to put some of the money toward hiring postdocs to help with her research.
