Choosing the Right Field of Study for a Career in Quantum Computation

[Amith2006]

Hi guys. I’m a graduate student in physics. I’m interested in quantum computation. In what field of physics should I take up my further studies to get into this area? Any information is most welcome.Thanx in advance.

 

[Fearless]

computational physics perhaps? maybe some monte-carlo methods? "metropolis"? "penelope"-packages?

 

[BioCore]

I would recommend taking all the Quantum theory classes to get a better understanding of the topic, although that really is somewhat impossible as there are even current physicists who don't have a perfect understanding of the topic. I would also recommend some computer science courses to understand the structure of computers and how they operate.

 

[maverick_starstrider]

The University of Waterloo has an institute of quantum computation which has dedicated courses on quantum computation (actually they have one in undergrad as well)

 

[r4nd0m]

It depends on whether you want to do theory or experiment.

If it's theory, then theoretical/mathematical physics would be the right field, with taking some additional math and computer science courses, like Functional analysis, Advanced Algorithms, Complexity theory, Coding Theory,...

In experiment, the possible fields are Condensed matter physics or Quantum optics, but I'm not an expert here.

Either way, quantum mechanics at an advanced level is a necessity.