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D.Sc. Eric Hyyppä and M.Sc. Tuomas Uusnäkki were awarded prestigious early-career prizes by major Finnish professional organisations. Hyyppä won the doctoral thesis award and Uusnäkki the master's thesis award, handed out by The Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland (TEK) and Tekniska Föreningen i Finland (TFiF).

Hyyppä carried out the research in question at the quantum computing company IQM and defended his thesis, titled “High-fidelity elementary operations for superconducting quantum computers”, at Aalto University's Department of Applied Physics at the School of Science. The award includes 7500 euros in prize money. 

Hyyppä's thesis focuses on new ways to build and control qubits, the building blocks of quantum computers.

'The most important results of my thesis include the development of a new superconducting unimon qubit and novel analytical pulse shapes for implementing fast qubit control,' Hyyppä says.

The results help make quantum computing more accurate. 

'If quantum computers achieve sufficient computational accuracy, they have the potential to significantly enhance the efficiency of, for example, material and molecular system simulations and help solve certain optimisation problems,' Hyyppä says.

Hyyppä now works at IQM to further develop the ideas in his thesis. 

Uusnäkki secured the master's-level award with a thesis titled “Quantum Heat Engine Based on Superconducting Circuits”, also completed at the Department of Applied Physics. The award comes with 5000 euros in prize-money.

Uusnäkki demonstrated, for the first time, an operational quantum heat engine using a transmon qubit in a low-temperature environment.

According to the award jury the work could have practical applications in the future, such as in the energy-efficient heat management of quantum systems.

'Heat environments and their control will be critical in future quantum computers, as controlling large numbers of qubits creates significant thermal noise in the system. Although the practical benefits of the quantum heat engine cannot be directly seen in everyday life, it is part of a major effort towards working quantum computers, which have significant potential to impact people's lives,' Uusnäkki says.

Uusnäkki continues working on the topic as a doctoral researcher.

Hyyppä and Uusnäkki both belong to the QCD research group at Aalto, which is headed by Professor Mikko Möttönen. Möttönen also supervised both theses.

Read more about each thesis on the .

Contact information:

Eric Hyyppä
eric.hyyppa@gmail.com
p. 045 841 2722

Tuomas Uusnäkki
tuomas.uusnakki@aalto.fi