Klaus Liegener - Walther-Meißner-Institute

1. Briefly describe your current position/project, research focus, and your role within MCQST.

I am a scientific manager at the Walther-Meißner-Institute (WMI) and coordinate the efforts of Munich Quantum Valley and MUNQIC-SC on superconducting qubits. Our goal for the next four years are quantum computers demonstrators with up to 100 qubits. To reach that, I am responsible to steer the exchange between industry partners, fabrication experts, theorists and the experimental researchers at WMI.

2. What current projects are you most excited about?

One main advantage of superconducting quantum computers is the possibility to freely design qubits. A current challenge is to design a coupler that simultaneously interacts four qubits and speeds up computation time. Being myself a quantum physicist, I find the involved theoretical concepts fascinating and am actively participating in the research to make those couplers available for our quantum devices.

3. Do you have any special or unique holiday traditions?

I love to explore nearby ‘Weihnachtsmärkte’, which is a great opportunity to catch up with former colleagues and friends whom one has not seen in a while. A hot Glühwein or Punsch is perfect to get into the mood to talk about everything and anything. So, if you ever spot me in the crowd and are up for discussion on quantum physics, gravitation, and more – feel free to stop by and say ‘hello’!