Dr. Pritam Chattopadhyay (2024-2025)
Short Biography: Pritam obtained his BSc and MSc degrees in Physics from West Bengal State University, India. He went on to pursue his PhD in quantum thermodynamics and quantum computation theory at the Indian Statistical Institute, India, under the supervision of Prof. Goutam Paul. During his doctoral studies, Pritam focused on understanding the extraction of work from quantum thermal machines and on quantum computation theory. Currently, Pritam is a postdoctoral fellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, where he is affiliated with the group of Prof. Gershon Kurizki.
Science Snippet: At Weizmann, Pritam continues to pursue his passion for open quantum systems, quantum sensing, quantum computation, and quantum information theory. His exciting Ben May Center funded projects include, among others:
(i) Work extraction by the amplification of black hole energy – A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, including light, can escape it. In this project, Pritam aims at developing a novel procedure to harness the gravitational vacuum energy of a black hole towards useful purposes, such as propelling a spaceship trapped in it. Specifically, the idea is to build an amplifier based on work extraction from black holes, constituting a black hole powered quantum heat engine.
(ii) Reconstruction of quantum states after decoherence – A major challenge in quantum computation is minimizing the corruption of quantum states by a process termed decoherence, which leads to the loss of information from the computing system to its environment. In this project, Pritam aims at developing a simple alternative approach – compared to current strategies – to restore the computing system’s uncorrupted quantum state, even in situations that remain challenging for current strategies.