Published: Sept. 1, 2023

Xun GaoThe Department of Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder is excited to welcome Assistant ProfessorÌýXun GaoÌýto the faculty this fall! Professor Gao has also been named an Associate Fellow of JILA and he is very enthusiastic about the collaborative environment between CU Physics and JILA.

Professor Gao is a quantum information theorist, specializing in finding quantum computational advantages. Gao’s research explores the power and limitations of near-term quantum devices, quantum machine learning, and quantum optimization algorithms. He also investigates quantum error correction and quantum-inspired approaches to design classical algorithms.

Professor Gao received his PhD in Physics from Tsinghua University in 2018 in Beijing under the mentorship of Luming Duan. He was a Simons Visiting Scholar at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing. Prior to joining CU Boulder, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University in the Max-Planck Harvard Research Center for Quantum Optics.

Professor Gao is excited about joining CU Boulder and commented, “To achieve practical quantum advantage requires intense effort from both theory and experiment, and interplay among different areas across physics, computer science and math. As a theorist, I am eager to leverage the highly collaborative environment in CU Physics and JILA, where I can interact closely with world-class quantum experimentalists and other quantum theorists. I am excited to join CU as it provides an opportunity to foster interdisciplinary education, bridging the gap between physics and other disciplines, and facilitating stronger connections between theoretical and experimental research.â€

Welcome, Professor Gao!