Enrique "Kiko" Galvez, Charles A. Dana Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Colgate University, will present "The Quantum Challenge."

Phenomena at the microscopic level or at low light levels challenge our understanding because they are unlike anything that we are used to in our macroscopic (classical) world. Quantum mechanics explains all of it, but not without leaving us with a sense of puzzlement or even skepticism at some of the concepts it predicts, such as superposition and entanglement. After many years of doubt and verification, these concepts have moved from being treated as curiosities to being embraced and further used in emerging technologies, with the current quest being the quantum computer. We use light to uncover these challenges, to get a grasp of the quantum rules, and to understand what motivates the second quantum revolution.

This lecture is free and open to the public.