Greetings from Berlin

Noga Entin (24) attained her MSc from the data science track at the Department of Mathematics; her research on quantum algorithms, however, was done at the Faculty of Engineering in Dr. Adi Makmal’s Quantum Computing and Machine Learning research group. “We’ve developed a method for optimizing freestyle pulses at the quantum hardware level. This enables greater agility, shorter computing times, and better resilience to noise than the contemporary method of manipulating gated circuits,” she says. “While variational quantum algorithms – a common approach today – operate by optimizing parameters in quantum logic gates, our method focuses on directly tuning the pulses at the hardware level, thereby bypassing the gate model. This method can be applied to a wide range of variational quantum algorithms and has the potential to significantly improve quantum computing performance. Our paper depicting the research was recently accepted for publication by Physical Reviews Letters (PRL).”

In September, Noga flew to Berlin to attend the international QTech 2024 conference on quantum technologies. “The purpose of the conference was to introduce the latest innovations in the quantum realm, both the theoretical and the applicative, whether it is quantum computing, quantum information, quantum communication, quantum simulation, and more,” she shares. “I gave a 15-minute talk about our research, presented our results and answered questions from the audience. I was nervous at first, naturally, but gradually, as the presentation progressed, I relaxed and felt I’d successfully explained the method and its advantages eloquently and clearly, and gave satisfying answers to their questions. I really enjoyed myself, and I got very good feedback afterwards, both from students and professors. Some even remarked that it was a very advanced topic and presentation for a graduate student. I’ve made connections that I hope will help me find a PhD program in Europe – that is my current aspiration.”

Noga acknowledges her supervisor, who prepped her well. “Adi always believed in me, encouraged me to ask questions, helped me find my direction and provided me with a sense of competence. She taught me the right way to research, read sources, and tackle problems that always arise during research work, and I’m sure her mentorship will follow me throughout my path in academia. I also want to thank my advisor, Prof. Reuven Cohen of the Department of Mathematics. Reuven is full of knowledge, always happy to share, advise, and explain everything in a friendly manner. He has always been supportive of my continued journey – in academia and in life.”