Building computers from atoms may sound far-fetched, but at CPUT this is the future of science and technology.

To make sure the institution becomes a world player in the development of this new technology is a task that is being undertaken by Dr Kessie Govender, a physicist based in the Electrical Engineering Department.

During the next few months, Govender will set up a team of researchers that will focus on the research and development of the basic components that are used in quantum computing and quantum information processing. The workings of these components rely on the principles of quantum physics.

Quantum computers will increase the computational power beyond that which is attainable by a traditional computer. 

For example, these computers will be able to solve mathematical problems such as factorizing a large number into its prime factors, within seconds, whereas current computers could take several hours or days to solve the same problem, says Govender.

“This is the technology of the future” he says.

Govender first began to dabble in this area of research whilst lecturing physics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and still continues to work with quantum researchers there. He later moved to the South African National Space Agency’s directorate in Hermanus, where he was also involved in the technical developmental aspects of ZACUBE-01.

Govender says to conduct this type of research you need a team of people who have a good knowledge of physics.

To grow this area of research, Govender says, engineering curricula at universities will have to look at incorporating more physics into the curriculum.

“Physics opens the door to curiosity and it allows you to branch into a number of other areas,” he says.

Students and staff interested in this area of research should contact Dr Govender on 021 4603762 or via email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Written by Candes Keating
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Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering lecturer, Rory Pentz is delighted to be one of the recipients of the Thuthuka Grant Awards for 2021.

The recipients were announced by the National Research Foundation and the Department of Science and Innovation, recently. The new Thuthuka awards are for applicants who responded to the 2021 call for applications and have been made according to the strategic objectives of the Thuthuka Funding Instrument and the available budget.

The aspiring researcher in the field of Quantum Communication and Quantum Technologies, who has been part of the Quantum Physics Research group at CPUT (led by Dr Kessie Govender), says: “It was very difficult to find funding for my research project and I was struggling since 2018. With this grant, I can buy most of the equipment required to construct an experiment to start studying Quantum Key Distribution Systems.”

These types of systems will be used in the future to distribute encryption keys to protect valuable information over communication channels like computer networks. With the increasing transfer of data across the internet,  Pentz says the need for data security is becoming more important.

Classically, data is encrypted using one-way mathematical functions that depend on the difficulty level to safeguard information. “With the increasing computing power and the development of quantum computers, these one-way mathematical functions will be solved very fast. Current encryption techniques will not be able to protect information and therefore it is important to develop new methods to protect the information,” says the PhD Candidate in Electrical Engineering,

He adds that the secondary function of this experiment is to develop the bases for other students doing similar research in this field and that this will be done in a lab dedicated to research in Quantum Communication.  “This will be the second lab focusing on investigating and develop expertise in quantum-based technologies in the Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Computer Engineering at CPUT,” Pentz explains.

Reflecting on the grant, Pentz says: “As a lecturer, developing students, it gives me great pleasure. Unfortunately, technology is constantly changing, and being able to research cutting edge technology makes it possible to keep on improving myself. This will also allow me to complete my studies and support my aspirations to become a researcher,” he continues.

“I was very frustrated as I could not get funding to do the planned project. Now it is possible and I am very grateful and excited. Our research team is still young, yet we made news previously, by making a cloud of cold Rubidium atoms, and I don’t think this will be the last time this happens. CPUT is visible in the Quantum Physics community and our colleagues have come to know our work. This makes collaboration easier.”

Pentz who attributes his achievements to an understanding family and a good supervisor reveals that he was involved in a project where they developed an electric car in his department between 2011 and 2013.  When he is not at work, Pentz enjoys cycling on his mountain bike, camping, building projects in his garage, building his own lego technic sets, and doing sound for live bands.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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The Western Cape may have experienced a heat wave in October, but CPUT’s Bellville campus underwent a cold spell.

Physicist Dr Kessie Govender, leader of the CPUT Quantum Physics Research Group, succeeded in cooling a cloud of rubidium atoms to around 17 micro Kelvins, which is approximately -273 degrees Celsius below zero. The research group managed to obtain an approximately 3mm square cloud of cold Rubidium 87 atoms at around noon on Thursday 4 October 2018.

The group currently includes doctoral students Adrian Wyngaard and Rory Pentz, and masters student Victory Opeolu, all of whom are actively involved in this project.

“We are one of a few groups to achieve this in South Africa and possibly Africa. The other research group that claims to have cold atoms is the group at UKZN, however no reported measurements of the temperature or cloud parameters have been published by them as far I know,” said Govender about this first step in developing components for quantum computing locally.

Govender started the Quantum Physics Research Group in 2015 to investigate laser cooling of atoms and the development of quantum information processing components.

“There are many platforms for doing quantum computing and we’ve chosen one particular platform where we use lasers to cool down atoms. You can do a lot of things with cold atoms. For example, you can make atomic clocks, which is something I want to do because we work closely with the satellite programme on campus, F’SATI.”

“The idea is to shrink it down to be used in the nano-satellite. Data is sent from one satellite to the next but all the data needs to be tagged with a time stamp. While everything does have a margin of error, the atomic clock’s margin of error is a lot smaller than any other kind.”

Govender is pleased that he has gotten this far with his research based on a set-up that the research group assembled themselves.

Over the past three years the Quantum Physics Research Group has built and grown their own electronic set-up, spending the last six months optimising the system’s parameters. The system, positioned on two optical tables, consists of a saturated spectroscopy set-up to control the cooling and re-pumping lasers plus a vacuum chamber where the atoms are cooled. The vacuum chamber is an octagonal chamber, from Kimball Physics, with a large view port in front and a number of small view ports on the sides.

Next they have to think about how to expand the system as they continue their experiments.

“We still need to characterise the cloud and do experiments on them, move them into little traps. Then we have to move on to creating a Bose-Einstein Condensate,” he said.

Written by Theresa Smith
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