The weird world of weak measurements

Thomas Bailey

We were pleased to invite Guillaume Thekkadath, a DPhil student in Oxford's Atomic and Laser Physics sub-department, to lead a "quantum information discussion group" on weak measurements. 

These are when a quantum system is measured gently, resulting in a small disturbance to the system but very large uncertainties in the value read out. After a short presentation outlining how this can be achieved in real systems, we looked at the idea of a weak value and some counter-intuitive experimental results. The discussion then moved onto a range of different ideas, from interpretations of quantum mechanics to the differences in viewpoint between experimentalists and theorists. 

The event was a great chance to dive deeper into a topic many of us had little familiarity with. If there's a topic you would like to discuss in a future discussion group, just make a suggestion to the QuInSoc committee!