Learning from Nature: bio-inspired quantum technologies?

The 1st lecture in the 2018-2019 Edinburgh series of IOP Winter Lectures will take place on Tuesday the 6th of Nov. 2018 at the Royal Society of Edinburgh (22-26 George St, Edinburgh EH2 2PQ).
The speaker will be Dr Erik Gauger (Heriot Watt University), who will present a lecture titled, "Learning from Nature: bio-inspired quantum technologies?".
The lecture starts at 7:30 pm, with refreshments sponsored by Renishaw from 7:00 pm.
All are welcome to attend.

One of the stranger aspects of quantum mechanics is the superposition principle: it allows particles to exist in more than one place (or state) simultaneously - in stark contrast to the world of our everyday experience. Quantum superpositions are not only puzzling, they could also be key to super-charging new technologies, such as quantum computers, quantum-enhanced sensing, and secure communication. However, in man-made systems, superposition states prove fragile and typically decay rapidly unless carefully protected in a very special environment. Could life have evolved to exploit such delicate phenomena? Recent experimental evidence suggests the answer is yes: for instance, Schrödinger cat states appear to play to a role in the photosynthetic process of bacteria and algae, and the directional sense of migratory birds is widely believed to be powered by superpositions states of electron spins inside a molecular compass structure. In this lecture, I will cover these intriguing examples of where Nature appears to have found ways of creating biological instances of "quantum technology” and discuss prospects for artificial quantum-enhanced light-harvesting and sensing technologies.