Building a quantum computer using silicon/silicon-germanium heterostructures

In principle, quantum computers that exploit the nature of quantum physics can solve some problems much more efficiently than classical computers can. Motivated by the tremendous scalability of classical silicon electronics, a group of us at University of Wisconsin-Madison are working to build a large-scale quantum computer using silicon/silicon-germanium quantum dots, constructed using technology similar to that used to build current classical computers. This talk will discuss the fundamental physics challenges that arise, the role that theory has played in addressing these challenges, the experimental progress that has been made, and the prospects for further development.