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Machiel Blok

@machielblok.bsky.social
447 followers 223 following 99 posts

Associate Professor @UofR physics-Quantum information - superconducting circuits - Dad - Dutch - Soccer - Ajax, onze club! labsites.rochester.edu/bloklab Machielblok@qubit-social.xyz @MachielSBlok on X

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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Physics & Football Rooting for @gtlandi.bsky.social’s Brazil
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
I'm highly excited to share our new PRX paper on measuring the dynamics of transmon ionization using a ten-level transmon qudit. The work is a collaboration between the Blok Lab at the University of Rochester and the Blais group at Université de Sherbrooke 1/4
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
“Every hour you spend confused is an hour you spend building the infrastructure inside your own head that will eventually let you do original work. There is no shortcut through that process that doesn't leave you diminished on the other side.”
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
John Preskill expressing thanks to quantum pioneers of the past century and wishing good fortune to the audience, the quantum explorers of the future in an inspiring talk at #APSSummit26 #quantum
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Nicole Yunger Halpern @nicoleyh11.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Announcing the symposium Quantum Thermodynamics and Decoherence! Registration is free and now open. Highlights include a keynote by a physics-inspired novelist and poster-session prizes for students/postdocs. Join us in New York June 3–4! qtd-hub.umd.edu/event/sympos...
qtd-hub.umd.edu
Quantum Thermodynamics and Decoherence | Quantum-Thermodynamics Hub
Joint with the Center for Coherence and Quantum Science (CQS).
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Eli LF @elilevensonfalk.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
The semester is finally over, so it's time for me to post the memes my students made for extra credit on their final (Physics 438b: Quantum Mechanics). As always, good memes are the result of my inspiring teaching, bad memes are the result of kids these days. Let's start it off!
Alignment chart with Pauli matrices "Looks like a cinnamon roll" / "is actually a cinnamon roll", SWAP "looks like a cinnamon roll" / "could actually kill you", generalized CPhase (D) "looks like they could kill you" / "is actually a cinnamon roll", CCNOT "looks like they could kill you" / "could actually kill you"
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University of Rochester @urochester.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
The same quantum tunneling honored by this year’s #NobelPrize is driving #URochesterResearch @machielblok.bsky.social is building quantum systems that do what classical computers can’t—inspired by the same fundamental questions uofr.us/48o7I0K #QuantumPhysics #QuantumComputing
uofr.us
Quantum tunneling: URochester physicist explains a Nobel Prize–winning discovery
Machiel Blok’s research in superconducting circuits builds on the quantum tunneling effects recognized by the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics.
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Emmanuel Flurin @manuflurin.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
What it really feels like interacting with your physics heroes! Such a beautiful and fundamental prize 🤩 www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physi...
media.tenor.com
a close up of a statue of yoda with the words `` learning you are '' written above him .
ALT: a close up of a statue of yoda with the words `` learning you are '' written above him .
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
In the excitement over today's well-deserved #nobel announcement for Clarke, Devoret and Martinis, I looked up the 2017 symposium in honor of John Clarke's scientific achievements at UC Berkeley that I attended as a postdoc. I was thrilled to find the recordings on YouTube tinyurl.com/mrx6umcr
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
sc circuits!! www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physi...
nobelprize.org
Nobel Prize in Physics 2025
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 was awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electri...
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
We are hiring in theoretical quantum info / complex systems ! apply.interfolio.com/173432
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Fridge day! @bluefors.com @urochester.bsky.social
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Free DC @freedcproject.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
This is what democracy looks like! A people united will never be defeated. We want federal forces out of DC NOW! #WeAreAllDC #FreeDC
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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
Why are so many people so obsessed with “Google Scholar fraud”? Another example of someone creating a few citations — no, you don’t get a job/promotion because you have 132 citations. And the “meta study” found 144 suspected cases out of 1 million (!) profiles.
science.org
How easy is it to fudge your scientific rank? Meet Larry, the world’s most cited cat
“Exercise in absurdity” reveals flaws in Google Scholar’s productivity metrics
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John Preskill @preskill.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Mark Saffman reviews the remarkable recent progress on quantum computing with neutral atoms. podcast.newquantumera.com/57
podcast.newquantumera.com
The New Quantum Era - innovation in quantum computing, science and technology | Neutral Atom Qubits with Mark Saffman
In this episode of The New Quantum Era, host Sebastian Hassinger sits down with Dr. Mark Saffman, a leading expert in atomic physics and quantum information science. As a professor at the Universit...
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
What connects The Matrix, to Hilbert Space, to Spins with large angular moment? Our recent PRX on efficient qudit control with large-spin rotations ! www.rochester.edu/newscenter/h... #URQuantum #Rochester #Quantum #Qudits
rochester.edu
Researchers discover more efficient way to route information in quantum computers
Using qudits, University of Rochester scientists have solved a notoriously difficult problem involving Hilbert space, or the quantum matrix.
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
In Trento for the BeyondQubit workshop. Looking forward to a conference dedicated to Qudits! #quantum #qudits #beyondqubit
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Ended cqs-12 with an amazing public talk by Nicole Yunger Halpern on quantum steampunk #cqs2025
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Final day of cqs-12 kicked off by Pedram Roushan from Google Quantum AI on simulating lattice gauge theories and condensed matter systems with Willow #cqs2025 #quantum #Rochester
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Misha Lukin at cqs-12: We got a preview of these very impressive new results on repeated error correction in neutral atoms, posted on the arxiv today arxiv.org/pdf/2506.20661 #cqs2025 #qec #quantum
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Zlatko Minev @zlatko-minev.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
🌟 Excited to speak, have played a small advisory board role, and be back here after the last one 6 years ago for the Rochester Conference on Coherence and Quantum Science (CQS-12)! CQS is special, dating back to 1960, bringing together Nobel Laureates & field pioneers #CQS2025
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Eli LF @elilevensonfalk.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
You guys my students threw me a surprise tenure party
LFL group photo
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Off to a great start of CQS-12 with a keynote by Donna Strickland about the quantum and coherence properties of lasers and including a tribute to Joe Eberly #cqs12 #quantum #coherence #rochester
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Emmanuel Flurin @manuflurin.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
New paper out! We resonantly couple a superconducting heavy-fluxonium qubit ⚛️ to a macroscopic membrane 🥁 oscillating at a few MHz. ~300 repeated interactions let us track its quantum motion, observe back-action & probe non-commuting operators. Diósi–Penrose next? (1/8) arxiv.org/abs/2505.21481
arxiv.org
Probing the quantum motion of a macroscopic mechanical oscillator with a radio-frequency superconducting qubit
Long-lived mechanical resonators like drums oscillating at MHz frequencies and operating in the quantum regime offer a powerful platform for quantum technologies and tests of fundamental physics. Yet,...
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
10 days left for early-bird registration for CQS-12! Hope to see you in Rochester in June for many quantum interactions! If you can not attend yourself, please consider sharing with colleagues or group members. #CQS12 #quantum #QIS
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Davide Castelvecchi @castelvecchi.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Move over, qubits: Quantum computing based on higher-dimensional 'qudits' (working with a Hilbert space of dimension d>2) offers potential advantages — but the devil could be in the details. A short 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Meet ‘qudits’: more complex cousins of qubits boost quantum computing
Working with multi-dimensional entities could make calculations more efficient and reduce errors.
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
"If I could go back in time to my old self, I would tell her: why waste time with qubits" says Christine Muschik in a very nice qudit overview article in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Meet ‘qudits’: more complex cousins of qubits boost quantum computing
Working with multi-dimensional entities could make calculations more efficient and reduce errors.
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Here we go! #aps #globalsummit
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
🌟 The 12th Rochester Conference on Coherence and Quantum Science (CQS-12) will be held June 23-27, 2025 in Rochester, NY! 🌟 CQS has a rich history dating back to 1960 and brought together Nobel Laureates & field pioneers. www.sas.rochester.edu/quantum/cqs/... #CQS2025 #QuantumScience #Physics
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Another great batch of quantum memes!
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Physics World @physicsworld.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Cool cats. Physicists at UNSW are the first to succeed in creating and manipulating quantum superpositions of a single, large nuclear spin. 🧪⚛️ ow.ly/gH2j50UZv88
ow.ly
Schrödinger's cat states appear in the nuclear spin state of antimony – Physics World
New finding will be important for applications in quantum information processing and quantum error correction
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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
This is the one article to read on contemporary (and future) U.S. politics. Laid out analytically and clearly. There is a hint of optimism (which I do not share but do appreciate).
foreignaffairs.com
The Path to American Authoritarianism
What comes after democratic breakdown.
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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
As social and traditional media continue to favor "catastrophizing" and "liberal outrage", the growing group of (wannabe) pundits keep upping their dramatic predictions and drowning out the few actual experts with insightful analyses. Trump pays off for both far-right and liberal grifters.
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
First time I am hearing about Quantum Circuit Born Machines. From a brief glance at the paper, this looks like it could be an important result! I’m a little surprised it is not discussed more in the #quantum sphere here. Thoughts?
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CTSI at URochester Medicine @ur-ctsi.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Hey, University of Rochester researchers! Did you know there's a starter pack for you?! Check it out, follow your colleagues, and reach out to @urochester.bsky.social to be added to the pack! go.bsky.app/AhmHd8J
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Beautiful work by the Morello group on creating a Schrödinger cat state in nuclear spin qudits (www.nature.com/articles/s41...) Along with a visually stunning video www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJVM...
youtube.com
Schrödinger cat states of a nuclear spin qudit in silicon
YouTube video by UNSW
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Chris Ferrie @csferrie.com · 11/01/2025
Rainy weekend project: condense 125 years of quantum physics into 1! The "Quantum Year" calendar is interactive. Feedback welcome. #IYQ2025 #QuantumYear #QuantumComputing
csferrie.medium.com
2025 is NOT the Quantum Year — This is 👇
125 years of quantum physics condensed into a calendar year
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
It is graduate admission season! Question to colleagues: How do you read/write recommendation letters. I have no issue identifying the best of the best. But between all the 'warm', 'strong', 'enthusiastic' recommendations, how can they be distinguished?
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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
If I would be dictator for a day, I would mandate that you are only allowed to published graphs that show the full range of the y-axis.
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Eli LF @elilevensonfalk.bsky.social · 26/12/2024
I'm teaching quantum again this semester. Midterms are the second weeks of February and March, final is first week of May. Set your meme calendars accordingly
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Eli LF @elilevensonfalk.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
My take on different interpretations of quantum mechanics is that I will devote serious thought to them as soon as they make one (1) testable prediction
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John Preskill @preskill.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
I was thrilled to hear about the surface code when Alexei Kitaev visited @caltech.edu in April 1997. It's heartening to see the hardware catching up with the theory of quantum error correction. There's still far to go but this is encouraging progress. www.quantamagazine.org/quantum-comp...
quantamagazine.org
Quantum Computers Cross Critical Error Threshold | Quanta Magazine
In a first, researchers have shown that adding more “qubits” to a quantum computer can make it more resilient. It’s an essential step on the long road to practical applications.
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Martin Bauer @martinmbauer.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
2-dimensional analogies are often used to motivate physical concepts in our 3+1 dimensional world. But a world with 2 space and 1 time dimensions would look *very* different from our world Some crucial differences:🧵 1/10
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Andreas Wallraff @andreasateth.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Let me know if you want your #quantum tagged posts to be listed in this quantum feed: bsky.app/profile/did:... .
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Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias @ceciliapad.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
We had heard about the challenges posed by motherhood within academia, but what about the previous stage? @ecfreewoman.bsky.social & I wrote our story for @science.org on how the academic system makes it almost impossible for women to even plan for a family ❤️‍🩹: www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
As women in academia, having children can feel impossible. Talking about it makes us feel less alone
The struggle is “balancing their careers not just with motherhood, but with what comes before: relationships and planning for a family,” these postdocs write
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Chris Ferrie @csferrie.com · 25/11/2024
Dad: [Hands waving] Magnets work because quantum field theory reveals spin, an intrinsic angular momentum from Lorentz symmetries. In bulk elements with unpaired electrons, exchange interactions align spins, creating a coherent macroscopic magnetic moment and fields, sweetie.
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Fun feature! Creating a word cloud based on your google scholar scholargoggler.com
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Dulwich Quantum Computing @dulwichquantum.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Turns out you can play Bach on an MRI scanner.
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Rakhim Davletkali @rakhim.org · 23/11/2024
95% of articles/videos about quantum computing say "the number of states of qubits grows exponentially", and then show something like this (see pic) BUT THIS IS EXACTLY THE SAME FOR CLASSICAL BITS! You're literally showing 2^n states of n two-state bits. That's how math works. What is your point?
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Machiel Blok @machielblok.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Love this Amsterdam (Ajax) Rochester (Kodak) connection!
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