Leo Kouwenhoven

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Leo Kouwenhoven
Leo Kouwenhoven at the SingularityU The Netherlands Summit 2016 (29011185724).jpg
Leo Kouwenhoven in 2016
Born (1963-12-10) 10 December 1963 (age 61)
Pijnacker, Netherlands
Alma mater TU Delft
Awards Spinoza Prize (2007)
Scientific career
Fields Physics
Quantum computing
Institutions TU Delft
Website qutech.nl/lab/kouwenhoven-lab/

Leo Kouwenhoven (born 10 December 1963) is a Dutch physicist known for his research on quantum computing, specifically in topological quantum computing experiments.

Contents

Education

Kouwenhoven grew up in Pijnacker, a village near Delft, where his parents ran a farm. After losing the admission lottery for veterinary medicine he decided to study physics at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). [1]

In 1992 he received his PhD cum laude at TU Delft; his promoter was Hans Mooij  [ de ].

Career

In 1999 he became a professor at TU Delft. [1] In 2007 he received the Spinoza Prize, the highest Dutch academic award. In April 2012 his TU Delft research group presented experimental results that provided potential "signatures" of Majorana fermion quasiparticles. [2] [3] [4] These Majorana quasiparticles would be very stable, and therefore suitable for building a quantum computer. [5]

In 2018 his research group claimed to have proved the definitive existence of Majorana particles in a Nature publication. [6] However, the results could not be reproduced by other scientists, and the article had to be retracted in 2021 due to "insufficient scientific rigour". [7] [8] [9] [10] The researchers had excluded data points that contradicted their claims, with the complete data not supporting their conclusions. [11]

Two of the Majorana research papers involving Leo Kouwenhoven's group at QuTech were retracted due to data irregularities, leading to a couple of investigations by the TU Delft's Research Integrity Committee (CWI) and the Dutch Body for Scientific Integrity (LOWI) between 2020 and 2023. [a] While Kouwenhoven was found partly negligent in one case, no scientific integrity violations were confirmed. [12]

Kouwenhoven was reappointed as university professor at TU Delft in 2024. [12]

Personal life

Kouwenhoven has six sisters and is married to Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam professor Marleen Huysman. [1]

Notes

  1. ↑ CWI and the LOWI led a first investigation between 2020 and 2022. The CWI conducted a second investigation from 2022 to 2023

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hoeks, Louis (6 March 2016). "'Op de boerderij leerde ik dat wegduiken geen optie is'". Financieele Dagblad.
  2. ↑ Bob Yirka (13 April 2012). "Researchers find possible evidence of Majorana fermions". phys.org. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  3. ↑ "Nanowetenschappers vinden langgezocht Majorana-deeltje". engineersonline.nl (in Dutch). 17 February 1999. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  4. ↑ Mourik, V.; Zuo, K.; Frolov, S. M.; Plissard, S. R.; Bakkers, E. P. a. M.; Kouwenhoven, L. P. (25 May 2012). "Signatures of Majorana Fermions in Hybrid Superconductor-Semiconductor Nanowire Devices". Science. 336 (6084): 1003–1007. arXiv: 1204.2792 . Bibcode:2012Sci...336.1003M. doi:10.1126/science.1222360. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   22499805. S2CID   18447180.
  5. ↑ Robert F. Service, Physicists Discover New Type of Particle — Sort Of, ScienceNOW, 12 April 2012
  6. ↑ Zhang, Hao; Liu, Chun-Xiao; Gazibegovic, Sasa; Xu, Di; Logan, John A.; Wang, Guanzhong; van Loo, Nick; Bommer, Jouri D. S.; de Moor, Michiel W. A.; Car, Diana; Op het Veld, Roy L. M. (2018). "RETRACTED ARTICLE: Quantized Majorana conductance". Nature. 556 (7699): 74–79. arXiv: 1710.10701 . doi:10.1038/nature26142. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   29590094. S2CID   4613547. (Retracted, see doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03373-x, PMID   33686283,  Retraction Watch)
  7. ↑ Zhang, Hao; Liu, Chun-Xiao; Gazibegovic, Sasa; Xu, Di; Logan, John A.; Wang, Guanzhong; Van Loo, Nick; Bommer, Jouri D. S.; De Moor, Michiel W. A.; Car, Diana; Op Het Veld, Roy L. M.; Van Veldhoven, Petrus J.; Koelling, Sebastian; Verheijen, Marcel A.; Pendharkar, Mihir; Pennachio, Daniel J.; Shojaei, Borzoyeh; Lee, Joon Sue; Palmstrøm, Chris J.; Bakkers, Erik P. A. M.; Das Sarma, S.; Kouwenhoven, Leo P. (2021). "Retraction Note: Quantized Majorana conductance". Nature. 591 (7851): E30. Bibcode:2021Natur.591E..30Z. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03373-x . PMID   33686283. S2CID   232159790.
  8. ↑ "Landmark article by QuTech researchers under scrutiny". Landmark article by QuTech researchers under scrutiny | TU Delta (in Dutch). 19 May 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  9. ↑ Stan van Pelt (23 February 2021). "Hoe jonge onderzoekers het fundament wegsloegen onder de quantumdroom van een Delftse hoogleraar". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  10. ↑ Brouwer, Piet; Ensslin, Klaus; Goldhaber-Gordon, David; Lee, Patrick (2021). "Nature paper 'Quantized Majorana conductance', report from independent experts". Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4545812. S2CID   244959752.
  11. ↑ "Microsoft's Big Win in Quantum Computing Was an 'Error' After All". Wired.
  12. 1 2 "Timeline retracted Majorana papers". QuTech. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
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