BSc and Graduate Students Benefit From New Quantum Education Lab

Quantum technology teaching lab website

Since 2021, a cutting-edge quantum science teaching laboratory offers Technion students from all faculties the opportunity to gain experience in a field whose relevance to research and technology sectors is rapidly increasing.

The state-of-the-art lab, the first of its kind in Israel, enables BSc and graduate students in such diverse fields as Chemistry, Physics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science to acquire valuable hands-on knowledge in quantum technology by taking a course at the new lab.

The teaching laboratory was developed by Prof. Aharon Blank from the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry and Prof. David Gershoni from the Faculty of Physics, thanks to funding from the Helen Diller Quantum Center. It is staffed by doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows who work with students on various experiments and enrich their theoretical and practical knowledge of quantum science.

The lab currently offers four experimental setups:

quantum optics with single photons, quantum bits (qubits) in Nitrogen vacancy in diamonds, nuclear spin qubits in nuclear magnetic resonance and the recent addition of a cold-atoms setup in which students experiment with atoms down to a milli-Kelvin temperature. While some of the setups are based on commercial educational kits, most have been developed in-house by the local research groups. 

While the Technion offers many advanced theoretical courses in quantum science, this teaching lab gives students a unique chance to receive their first hands-on experience. We provide a practical window into the three critical columns on which quantum technology stands: quantum communication, quantum sensing and quantum computation. Working with NV centers, entangled photons and cold atoms, they can master cutting edge platform of quantum science that they will later encounter in research labs in universities and the high-tech sector.

Students must have a basic background in quantum science or quantum engineering to take part in a course at the quantum science teaching lab. The lab offers two types of courses: either once a week, worth two academic credits, or twice a week for four credits. In the 2020/21 academic year, eight students participated in the first semester and 16 in the second.

If you are interested in our lab, please visit the lab's website. To register for one of the quantum labs, please contact the Chemistry faculty (basic lab course number:126604 -2 credit points, advanced lab course number: 126605 -4 credit points ) or the physics faculty (118076- advanced lab-4 credit points).