Winner. Scientist of the Year 2018. Natural Sciences

Rose Ahlefeldt

Academic title, degree: Ph.D.
Fields of science: Physical Sciences
Research interest: Development quantum information devices using rare earth ions in crystals
Institution: Australian National University
Position: Research Fellow at Research School of Physics and Engineering, ANU College of Science
Country: Australia

Dr. Rose Ahlefeldt is a physicist at the Australian National University in Canberra. She is designing memory for quantum computers.

Science always interested her. After finishing her HSC at Armidale High School in 2003, she was awarded a National Undergraduate Scholarship to ANU, where she studied a Bachelor of Philosophy (PhB) in Science. She was awarded the University Medal at the end of her degree, and completed her PhD at ANU. After that she was offered a job in France, and then obtained her Fulbright Scholarship to Montana State University.

Contribution to building better quantum memories that will be needed in the future for quantum computers and, eventually, the quantum internet. Dr. Ahlefeldt uses crystals to store memory for quantum computers, the supercomputers of the future. These supercomputers of the future use sub-atomic particles (which can exist in more than one state at a time) to solve problems today’s computers can’t, faster and more easily: factorizing ten-digit numbers (useful for encryption and decryption), discovering new drugs, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. The world record for quantum storage in any solid is six hours, enough for nearly any application scientists want. The snag: at the moment, only a single bit can be stored. A phone stores about a trillion bits. Dr Ahlefeldt’s solution is to use rare earth crystals (the ones lurking at the bottom of the periodic table, like cerium, dysprosium, praseodymium, thulium, and ytterbium) to design a quantum hard drive.

Projects and Grants:

• Development of new materials for high data storage capacity quantum devices - Primary Investigator.