Public talk (Sydney): Cool & invisible: superconducting quantum circuits & the search for dark matter

Join the National Quantum & Dark Matter Road Trip in Sydney to learn about quantum technologies and how and why we hunt for dark matter with Dr Laura Manenti and Dr Xanthe Croot.

Date: Monday 12 August 2024
Time: 6:30–8:00 pm
Venue: Messel Lecture Theatre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown NSW 2006

This is a FREE event, with optional donation to DeadlyScience, but registration is required.

Speaker 1: Laura Manenti

Dr Laura Manenti is a lecturer and experimental particle physicist at The University of Sydney in the School of Physics.  Her research focuses on rare-event searches such as experiments aimed at detecting dark matter particles.  Her expertise lies in designing and constructing detectors capable of observing invisible particles, even those that are yet to be discovered.  Laura is also a mum to three kids and a children’s book author.

Title: Beyond the visible: the search for dark matter

In this talk, Laura will explain what dark matter is and discuss the indirect evidence we have for its existence, such as galaxy rotation curves and gravitational lensing.  She will then describe the current efforts and experiments aimed at detecting this mysterious substance.

Speaker 2: Xanthe Croot

Dr Xanthe Croot is an experimental physicist and director of the Superconducting Quantum Circuits Laboratory, with a focus on superconducting and hybrid semi–superconducting circuits for novel qubits.  Xanthe completed her PhD in semiconductor spin qubits at the University of Sydney in 2018. Following this, she was a Dicke Fellow at Princeton University where she worked on long-range spin–spin interactions in semi–superconducting systems and novel protected superconducting qubits.

Title: The cool world of superconducting quantum circuits

Superconductivity is a fascinating phenomenon: when superconducting materials are cooled below their critical temperature, electrical currents flow through them without encountering any resistance.  In this talk, we will go on a journey to learn how superconductors can be used to engineer circuits that could shape the next generation of quantum computing technology.

We are very grateful to The University of Sydney for their support of this event.

To find out more about the National Quantum & Dark Matter Road Trip, visit https://www.qdmroadtrip.org.