Quantum technologist, NASA-trained Commercial Astronaut Christopher Altman

Spectroscopy on Two Coupled Superconducting Flux Qubits Kavli Institute Delft In PRL 94, 090501 (2005) Mooij et al. report on spectroscopy measurements of two coupled superconducting flux qubits: "The new results support the notion that superconducting flux qubits can be used to study entanglement in macroscopic quantum systems and for the development of nontrivial two-qubit gates [...] We demonstrate that two macroscopic flux qubits can be coupled to form a quantum mechanical four level system."

2005 Agilent Europhysics Prize Agilent Technologies The 2005 Agilent Technologies Europhysics Prize has been awarded to Awschalom, Dietl, and Ohno for their investigation of solid-state magnetic semiconductors and spin coherence. Spintronics is a promising candidate for scalable quantum computation. "We are proud to recognize these scientists for combining advanced materials engineering, insightful theoretical modeling, ingenious experimental techniques, and international collaboration to attain important breakthroughs in spintronics," said Jim Hollenhorst, director of molecular technology at Agilent Laboratories. Last year the award was shared by Mooij, Nakamura, Devoret and Esteve for their demonstration of superconducting circuits as qubits.