How to make straight nanowires, in three minutes

Nanowires are the building blocks of quantum computers, and their secrets have now been revealed, thanks to Lucas Güniat. This talented speaker described the results of his PhD research on nanowires in EPFL's "My Thesis in 180 Seconds" contest. His passion for his work, coupled with the extraordinary microcrystals used to make the tiny wires, earned him first place in a unanimous vote. The challenge of the My Thesis in 180 Seconds contest is to describe a complicated scientific subject in layman's terms so that the general public can easily understand it. Last night's participants, all PhD students, had three minutes to clearly present their findings to the audience and the panel without compromising on accuracy or scientific rigor. In his talk, Güniat drew a parallel with David and Goliath to explain the basics of quantum computers. He described how one of the main challenges in building these small, ultra-powerful machines is creating nanowires that are perfectly straight.