About me

I am currently (since June 2022) a Senior Postdoc (Universitätsassistent) at the Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics (Atominstitut) of TU Wien, where my team is part of the Quantum Information and Thermodynamics group led by Marcus Huber.
Since August 2018 I have been leading research in the FWF Stand-Alone Project "Resources for flexible quantum information processing" (P 31339-N27), which investigates the interplay, conversion, and flexible use of resources for quantum computation, quantum metrology, and quantum thermodynamics.
My research interests lie in the overlap of quantum information & computation with  quantum optics and quantum thermodynamics. Recently, I have been interested in entanglement theory, entanglement detection and certification in practical scenarios, and I have been investigating the connections between resources for quantum computation, quantum metrology, and quantum thermodynamics. See the Research Section of my homepage for more details.

Previously, I have worked as a Senior Postdoc at the Institut for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information - IQOQI Vienna (in the group of Marcus Huber), and as a Postdoc (Universitätsassistent) at the Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of Innsbruck, working in the Quantum Information & Computation group with Prof. Hans J. Briegel, where I have also been teaching courses in theoretical physics. I obtained my PhD (2010-2013) under the supervision of Ivette Fuentes at the University of Nottingham. Before that, I worked in the particle physics group at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Vienna, where I studied for my diploma, supervised by Reinhold A. Bertlmann.
Contact
Nicolai Friis
Senior Postdoc (Universitätsassistent)
Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics (Atominstitut) TU Wien
Stadionallee 2
1020 Vienna, Austria
Tel.: +43 1 58801 141884
e-mail: nicolai.friis@tuwien.ac.at

News

We are looking for a PhD student to work with us at the Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics (Atominstitut) of TU Wien from January 2023 on a project at the intersection of quantum information, quantum computing, and machine learning. Deadline 30th September 2022. More details here.
In our latest article [Simon Morelli, David Sauerwein, Michalis Skotiniotis & NF, Quantum 6, 722 (2022)], we discuss how entanglement distribution protocols in noisy quantum networks can be improved by embedded parameter-estimation subroutines. Have a look!
In our paper "Activation of genuine multipartite entanglement: Beyond the single-copy paradigm of entanglement characterisation" [Yamasaki, Morelli, Miethlinger, Bavaresco, Friis, Huber, Quantum 6, 695 (2022)] we show that, unlike bipartite entanglement, genuine multipartite entanglement (GME) can be activated in the sense that several copies of states that are not GME individually, can become GME jointly. In this new entanglement characterisation paradigm beyond single copies, we prove that there are states for which 2 copies are enough to activate GME, but there are also some for which only 3 copies suffice. Moreover, we show that even biseparable states with only undstillable entanglement can be used to activate GME.
On March 11th, 2022 I held my habilitation colloquium at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Vienna, completing the requirements for habilitation. The slides of the presentation can be downloaded here (as pdf), and my habilitation thesis entitled "Thermodynamic Considerations in Quantum Information Processing" can be downloaded here.
I am very happy to announce that I joined the Editorial Board of Quantum. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to help shape and grow the quantum community, and humbled to be entrusted with such a responsibility, looking forward to many great manuscripts!
In our recent paper `Entanglement Quantification in Atomic Ensembles', just published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 010401 (2021), we consider families of entanglement criteria based on operator variances and use these to derive lower bounds for two relevant entanglement measures. This yields a practical method for quantifying entanglement in realistic experimental situations, which we demonstrate by applying our method to quantify bipartite and multipartite entanglement in spin-squeezed Bose-Einstein condensates, using data from Fadel et al., Science 360, 409 (2018) and Schmied et al., Science 352, 441 (2016).

(Image credit: Alexander Rommel, © IQOQI Vienna)
Two years after our experimental demonstration of quantum-enhanced decision making in quantum-classical (quantum hardware+classical learning environment) reinforcement learning [Sriarunothai, et al., Quant. Sci. Techn. 4, 015014 (2019)], we have now
demonstrated a learning speed-up in fully quantum-quantum reinforcement learning in an international collaboration led by Valeria Saggio in Philip Walther's group: the paper is out in Nature and on the arXiv: Saggio et al.,Experimental quantum speed-up in reinforcement learning agents, Nature 591, 229-233 (2021) [arXiv:2103.06294]. (image credit © Rolando Barry, Universität Wien)

More information and media coverage:Popular summary (in German, Austrian Academy of Science)
Articles in New Scientist and phys.org (English)
Austrian news (in German): standard.at
In our new paper just out in PRX [Schwarzhans, Lock, Erker, Friis, Huber, Phys. Rev. X 11, 011046 (2021)], we investigate autonomous quantum clocks, which harness the entropic flow to keep track of time. We separate the operation of such a clock into two tasks: (i) an irreversible process that results in `tick' events, and (ii) a clockwork that structures the entropic flow by concentrating the probability for such ticks to occur within well defined narrow time intervals. We identify this second process, which we call autonomous temporal probability concentration (ATPC), as being crucial for obtaining a clock of high quality. We study the resource requirements for APTC and the trade-offs between these resources. (Image credit: IQOQI Vienna/Harald Ritsch)
Parameter estimation is a taks that is often studied in the "local" regime, where small flucutations in a local neighbourhood of some already well-known parameter value are being estimated. There, methods based on the Cramër-Rao bound apply. In our new paper [Morelli, Usui, Agudelo, Friis, Quantum Sci. Technol. 6, 025018 (2021)], we investigate a different parameter estimation paradigm: Bayesian estimation, where initial knowledge is updated based on newly obtained information. We study Bayesian estimation problems, including the esitmation of displacements, phases, and squeezing, using practically easily reliazable strategies based on Gaussian probe states and measurements.
In our latest paper just published in Nature [Erhard, Poulsen Nautrup et al., Entangling logical qubits with lattice surgery, Nature 589, 220--224 (2021), arXiv:2006.03071], we report on the experimental realization of lattice surgery between two topologically encoded qubits in a 10-qubit ion trap. In particular, we demonstrate entanglement between two logical qubits encoded in two 4-qubit surface codes and we implement logical state teleportation between them.

Press release from IQOQI Innsbruck (English),
Phys.org (English), Physics World (English)
Austrian news (in German): ORF & der Standard
In our newly published paper "High-Dimensional Pixel Entanglement: Efficient Generation and Certification" [Herrera Valencia et al., Quantum 4, 376 (2020)] in collaboration with BBQ Lab at Heriot-Watt, we present new methods for creating and certifying high-dimensional entanglement between spatial modes of light. We are able to certify record values for entanglement of formation (4.0±0.1 ebits in local dimension 31) and Schmidt number (55 in dimension 97).

Press release from IQOQI Vienna (English),
Austrian news (in German): der Standard
Starting October 2020, I took on the responsibility of providing quality control and copy-editing for Quantum Views, invited perspective pieces for selected articles published in Quantum, the open-access peer-reviewed journal for quantum science and related fields.
In our new paper "Teleporting quantum information encoded in fermionic modes", just out in Physical Review A 101, 052326 (2020), we take a closer look at the influence of superselection rules on teleportation (and what it even means to "teleport") using fermionic mode entanglement.
The notion of measurement forms an integral part of quantum mechanical reasoning. In our paper "Ideal Projective Measurements Have Infinite Resource Costs" [Y. Guryanova, N. Friis, and M. Huber, Quantum 4, 222 (2020)], we show that ideal measurements are impossible and establish a framework for studying non-ideal measurements which can approximate ideal measurements at finite energy cost.
In our latest paper out on the arXiv [H. Poulsen Nautrup, N. Delfosse, V. Dunjko, H. J. Briegel, and N. Friis, Quantum 3, 215 (2019)], we present a reinforcement learning approach for optimizing and adapting quantum error correction codes. In our aproach, agents learn to design good error correction codes that use as few qubits as possible and they are able to transfer their experience from one situation to another.
Thermodynamics implies that measurements are non-ideal and require an input of energy. In our paper `Work estimation and work fluctuations in the presence of non-ideal measurements', we explore the consequences of non-ideal measurements for work estimation [T. Debarba, G. Manzano, Y. Guryanova, M. Huber, and N. Friis, New J. Phys. 21, 113002 (2019), arXiv:1902.08568].
Correlations have an energy cost that we investigate in our new paper: Thermodynamically optimal creation of correlations [F. Bakhshinezhad, F. Clivaz, G. Vitagliano, P. Erker, A. T. Rezakhani, M. Huber, and N. Friis, J. Phys. A Math. Theor. 52, 465303 (2019), arXiv:1904.07942]. In particular, we present mathematical tools for determining the existence of symmetrically thermalizing unitaries necessary saturate entropic bounds on the energy cost of correlations.
Our review "Trade-Off Between Work and Correlations in Quantum Thermodynamics" has been published as a chapter in: Thermodynamics in the Quantum Regime, Chapter 30, edited by F. Binder, L. A. Correa, C. Gogolin, J. Anders, and G. Adesso (Springer 2019) [arXiv:1803.06884].
Picture
Image credit: Christian Murzek 2018
Every wondered about the different worlds inhabited by theorists and experimentalists? Find out more in this wonderful blog post about our new review paper "Entanglement certification from theory to experiment", fresh out in Nat. Rev. Phys. 1, 72-87 (2019).
Our paper entitled "Speeding-up the decision making of a learning agent using an ion trap quantum processor", has now been published in Quantum Science and Technology. We report on a first proof-of-principle experiment demonstrating a quantum speed-up in the deliberation time of quantum learning agents w.r.t. to their classical counterparts [Sriarunothai, Wölk, Giri, Friis, Dunjko, Briegel, Wunderlich, Quant. Sci. Techn. 4, 015014 (2019), arXiv:1709.01366].
 Our experiment & theory collaboration paper "Measurements in two bases are sufficient for certifying high-dimensional entanglement" has appeared online in Nat. Phys. 14, 1032 (2018) [earlier version available at arXiv:1709.07344].

In this work, we develop efficient new techniques for certifying high-dimensional entanglement using measurements in only two bases. We demonstrate the usefulness of this method: we certify 9-dimensional entanglement of two photons entangled in their orbital angular momentum. (Image credit: upper: Mehul Malik, lower: IQOQI Vienna/Harald Ritsch)
The second installment of our investigation of the usefulness and limitations of Gaussian operations in quantum thermodynamics is now available on the arXiv: Precision and Work Fluctuations in Gaussian Battery Charging, has now been published in Quantum 2, 61 (2018).
In a recent collaboration with Innsbruck and Ulm, we have been able track the dynamics of the development of genuine multipartite entanglement in groups of up to 5 neighbours in a chain of 20 fully controlled trapped-ion qubits. The paper hast just been published in Physical Review X [Friis, Marty et al., Phys. Rev. X 8, 021012 (2018)]. (Image credit: IQOQI Innsbruck/Harald Ritsch)

Press release from IQOQI Innsbruck (English),
Phys.org (English), IEEE Spectrum (English)
Austrian news (in German): ORF & der Standard
Our paper on "Flexible resources for quantum metrology", New J. Phys. 19, 063044 (2017) [arXiv:1610.09999], discussing how 2D cluster states can be used as resources for parameter estimation, has been selected by the editors of New Journal of Physics for inclusion in the 'Highlights of 2017' collection.
I have recently joined the International Editorial Board of the Journal of Physics Communications by IoP. The journal is fully open access and is committed to rigorous peer review assessing the scientific quality and ensuring that contributions advance the respective research areas but explicitly allows for the inclusion of negative or null results and replication studies. 
Read about an exciting new method to transfer quantum information between quantum memories and quantum processors in "Fault-tolerant interface between quantum memories and quantum processors" which was just published in Nat. Commun. 8, 1321 (2017) [arXiv:1609.08062].

Press release from the University of Innsbruck (English)
Austrian news (in German): ORF Tirol & der Standard
Phys.org coverage (English)
IEEE Spectrum Article (English)
"Geometry of two-qubit states with negative conditional entropy", our recent paper contrasting a variety of different entanglement detection criteria geometrically, has been published in J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 50, 125301 (2017) [arXiv:1609.04144].

Update: The article is now fully open access.
Our new article on quantum thermodynamics entitled "Passivity and practical work extraction using Gaussian operations" has been published in the New Journal of Physics: New J. Phys. 18, 113028 (2016) [arXiv:1608.04977].