Stephen Bartlett elected Fellow of the American Physical Society

Professor Stephen Bartlett has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the venerable and pre-eminent US institution dedicated to the advancement of physics.

The society, founded in 1899, is publisher of the leading English-language academic journals for physics, Physical Review and Physical Review Letters. It also hosts the world’s largest annual gathering of physicists, the APS March Meeting.

Professor Bartlett said: “I'm humbled by this recognition. The APS has become the major professional body for physicists, including quantum scientists, with a global reach. I'm chuffed to see Australian research in quantum information continue to make an oversized contribution on the international stage.”

According to the American Physical Society citation, Professor Bartlett has been recognised “for pioneering theoretical research in quantum information, including the theory of quantum computational phases of matter and classical simulation methods for quantum circuits”.

At the University of Sydney, Professor Bartlett leads the quantum information theory group at the University of Sydney Nano Institute. He is also a Chief Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems and a member of the Sydney Quantum Academy, funded by the NSW Government.

This year has also seen Professor Bartlett appointed Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Science and he has also been appointed Lead Editor of the APS’s new journal, PRX Quantum.

One of Professor Bartlett’s sponsors for his election was Professor Barry Sanders from the Institute for Quantum Science and Technology at the University of Calgary, Canada. He said: “Stephen's theories of quantum computational phases of matter and simulating quantum circuits elucidate what exactly the power behind quantum computing is and how to achieve it.”

Quantum technology stands at the edge of transition from theory and experiment to commercialisation and real-world application. In order to successfully complete that transition, quantum engineers and big tech companies building quantum machines, such as Microsoft, IBM and Google, continue to rely heavily on quantum theorists such as Professor Bartlett.

Originally from Canada, Professor Bartlett completed his doctorate at the University of Toronto in 2020 before starting a post-doctoral appointment at Macquarie University. Following that, after two years at the University of Queensland, Professor Bartlett joined the University of Sydney in 2005.

Head of the School of Physics, Professor Céline Boehm, said: “We have been very lucky to have Stephen make Sydney his home. We have benefitted from his wonderful academic leadership in quantum physics and it is tremendous to see that recognised internationally by the American Physical Society.”

Professor Duncan Ivison, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), said: “We couldn’t be prouder of Stephen’s achievement. It’s not only fabulous for him personally, but it is a wonderful recognition of the fantastic quantum research taking place in Australia more broadly.”