David K. Tuckett David K. Tuckett

David K. Tuckett, BSc Open, BSc Wales, MSc Staffs, PhD Syd

Email
dtuckett@lucubra.com
Website
https://davidtuckett.com/
Publications
Google Scholar:gtgYvDYAAAAJ, arXiv:tuckett_d_1, ORCID:0000-0002-3776-2864
Software
GitHub:dkt29, qecsim
Nationalities
Australian, British
Languages
English – fluent, French – fluent

Summary

With an outstanding academic record in both physics and computer science, as well as extensive professional experience as a software engineer, I am now pursuing a career in quantum computing research. I currently work as a postdoctoral researcher in the Quantum Theory Group at the University of Sydney and regularly collaborate with researchers throughout Australia and worldwide.

My research focuses on quantum error correction (QEC) and fault-tolerant quantum computation. My recent papers [1-5] identify and exploit previously unknown symmetries of surface codes with experimentally prevalent noise models to achieve exceptionally high thresholds and low logical failure rates. This work is supported by a research-grade Python library that I developed to complete QEC simulations on National Computing Infrastructure HPC facilities.

I have also had a highly successful career in software engineering, culminating in 5 years working for CERN providing computing support to the LHC experiments. This has provided me with strong technical skills and more than 12 years of professional experience fulfilling the roles of developer, architect and team leader.

Education

03/16-04/20
The University of Sydney, Australia
Doctor of Philosophy in Physics
11/04-12/14
The Open University, UK
BSc Honours Physical Science – First-class
09/96-05/98
Staffordshire University, Stafford, UK
MSc Computing Science – Distinction
10/89-06/93
The University of Wales, Swansea, UK
BSc Honours Pure Mathematics 2ii
09/87-06/89
Plymouth College of Further Education, Plymouth, UK
A-levels (grade): Pure and Applied Mathematics (A), Physics (A), Economics (B).
04/85-06/87
Ivybridge Community College, Devon, UK
O-levels: 8 at grade A or B, including Mathematics and English.

Professional Experience

12/19-present
The University of Sydney, Australia. Research Fellow (Quantum Theory)

My main role is to collaborate with colleagues and supervise students to produce first-class research in quantum information theory. Additionally, I leverage my expertise in software engineering to support research more generally within the group. Another important and very enjoyable aspect of my role is communicating our research to the wider community.

Research excellence:

Software engineering:

Communication:

09/09-09/14
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland. Software Engineer (Python and Oracle)

I worked within the Experiment Support group, which is the interface between the IT department and the physics experiments at CERN. My role was to develop solutions for monitoring activity on the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG). I collaborated closely with IT and physics colleagues, supervised fellows and summer students, and reported on our work within CERN and internationally.

I am extremely proud that my work at CERN, like that of many others, contributes in some part to advances within high energy physics, such as the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012.

11/07-08/08
AGI Solutions, London, UK. Architect and Senior Developer (Java)

My role was architect and senior developer, responsible for all layers of an intranet media application enabling customer service managers to control the lifecycle of publishing campaigns. I also provided technical leadership and mentoring to the team, as well as liaising with end-users. I worked with an international team of developers, including remote workers, following an Agile methodology.

05/07-08/07
Imperial College, London, UK. Research Placement (Python)

Within the High Energy Physics Group, I worked on Ganga, a front-end for the management of jobs running on the LHC Computing Grid. I developed a module for periodic submission of analysis jobs and statistics reporting. My work was accepted by the team at CERN for inclusion in Ganga and my contribution was acknowledged in the official reference paper for Ganga.

02/07-05/07
AGI Solutions, London, UK. Architect and Senior Developer (Java)
01/03-12/06
Prima Solutions, Paris, France. Architect and Senior Developer (Java)
02/01-12/01
Reef, Paris, France. Senior Developer (Java)
05/99-10/00
e-Net Software, Bath, UK. Senior Developer (Java)
10/98-05/99
PricewaterhouseCoopers Kinesis, Swindon, UK. Software Engineer
03/97-09/97
Brokat Infosystems AG, Stuttgart, Germany. Software Engineer
01/96-02/96
SWEB Computing Department, Plymouth, UK. Development Tester
04/95-08/95
Isca School of English, Exeter, UK. English Teacher (TEFL)

Publications in Quantum Information Theory

  1. D. K. Tuckett, S. D. Bartlett, S. T. Flammia,
    Ultrahigh error threshold for surface codes with biased noise,
    Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 050505 (2018), [DOI:
    10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.050505] (107 citations)
  2. D. K. Tuckett, A. S. Darmawan, C. T. Chubb, S. Bravyi, S. D. Bartlett, and S. T. Flammia,
    Tailoring surface codes for highly biased noise,
    Phys. Rev. X 9, 041031 (2019), [DOI:
    10.1103/PhysRevX.9.041031] (43 citations)
  3. D. K. Tuckett, S. D. Bartlett, S. T. Flammia, and B. J. Brown,
    Fault-tolerant thresholds for the surface code in excess of 5% under biased noise,
    Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 130501 (2020), [DOI:
    10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.130501] (37 citations)
  4. J. P. Bonilla Ataides, D. K. Tuckett, S. D. Bartlett, S. T. Flammia, and B. J. Brown,
    The XZZX surface code,
    Nat. Commun. 12, 2172 (2021), [DOI:
    10.1038/s41467-021-22274-1] (16 citations)
  5. A. S. Darmawan, B. J. Brown, A. L. Grimsmo, D. K. Tuckett, and S. Puri,
    Practical quantum error correction with the XZZX code and Kerr-cat qubits,
    arXiv preprint quant-ph (2021), [arXiv:
    2104.09539] (2 citations)
  6. D. K. Tuckett,
    Tailoring surface codes: Improvements in quantum error correction with biased noise,
    Ph.D. thesis University of Sydney (2020), [DOI:
    10.25910/x8xw-9077] (2 citations)

Conferences in Quantum Information Theory

  1. FTQT 2020, Fault-Tolerant Quantum Technologies Workshop, Benasque, Spain (online),
    Resilience of tailored surface codes to biased noise,
    Invited speaker, [Recording:
    https://youtu.be/ENNz0_lItZw]
  2. QEC'19, Fifth International Conference on Quantum Error Correction, London, UK,
    Tailoring surface codes for highly biased noise,
    Contributing speaker, [Recording:
    https://youtu.be/d4m8wlfu1_g]

Selected Publications in Computing for High Energy Physics

  1. J. Andreeva, I. Dzhunov, E. Karavakis, L. Kokoszkiewicz, M. Nowotka, P. Saiz and D. Tuckett,
    Designing and developing portable large-scale JavaScript web applications within the Experiment Dashboard framework,
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 396, 052069 (2012), [DOI:
    10.1088/1742-6596/396/5/052069] (17 citations)
  2. J. Andreeva, M. Devesas Campos, J. Tarragon Cros, B. Gaidioz, E. Karavakis, L. Kokoszkiewicz, E. Lanciotti, G. Maier, W. Ollivier, M. Nowotka, R. Rocha, T. Sadykov, P. Saiz, L. Sargsyan, I. Sidorova and D. Tuckett,
    Experiment Dashboard for Monitoring of the LHC Distributed Computing Systems,
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 331, 072001 (2011), [DOI:
    10.1088/1742-6596/331/7/072001] (16 citations)
  3. J. Andreeva, M. Cinquilli, D. Dieguez, I. Dzhunov, E. Karavakis, P. Karhula, M. Kenyon, L. Kokoszkiewicz, M. Nowotka, G. Ro, P. Saiz, L. Sargsyan, J. Schovancova and D. Tuckett,
    Experiment Dashboard - a generic, scalable solution for monitoring of the LHC computing activities, distributed sites and services,
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 396, 032093 (2012), [DOI:10.1088/1742-6596/396/3/032093] (16 citations)
  4. J. Andreeva, A. Beche, S. Belov, D. Diguez Arias, D. Giordano, D. Oleynik, A. Petrosyan, P. Saiz, M. Tadel, D. Tuckett and I. Vukotic,
    Monitoring of large-scale federated data storage: XRootD and beyond,
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 513, 032004 (2014), [DOI:10.1088/1742-6596/513/3/032004] (11 citations)
  5. E. Karavakis, J. Andreeva, M. Cinquilli, I. Dzhunov, M. Kenyon, L. Kokoszkiewicz, P. Saiz, L. Sargsyan, and D. Tuckett,
    User-centric monitoring of the analysis and production activities within the ATLAS and CMS Virtual Organisations using the Experiment Dashboard system,
    Proc. Sci. EGICF12-EMITC2, 110 (2012), [DOI:10.22323/1.162.0110] (9 citations)
  6. J. Andreeva, S. Campana, E. Karavakis, L. Kokoszkiewicz, P. Saiz, L. Sargsyan, J. Schovancova and D. Tuckett,
    ATLAS job monitoring in the Dashboard Framework,
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 396, 032094 (2012), [DOI:10.1088/1742-6596/396/3/032094] (8 citations)
  7. J. Andreeva, A. Beche, S. Belov, I. Dzhunov, I. Kadochnikov, E. Karavakis, P. Saiz, J. Schovancova and D. Tuckett,
    Processing of the WLCG monitoring data using NoSQL,
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 513, 032048 (2014), [DOI:10.1088/1742-6596/513/3/032048] (7 citations)
  8. J. Andreeva, D. Dieguez Arias, S. Campana, J. Flix, O. Keeble, N. Magini, Z. Molnar, D. Oleynik, A. Petrosyan, G. Ro, P. Saiz, M. Salichos, D. Tuckett, A. Uzhinsky and T. Wildish,
    Providing global WLCG transfer monitoring,
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 396, 032005 (2012), [DOI:
    10.1088/1742-6596/396/3/032005] (4 citations)
  9. J. Elmsheuser, F. Brochu, I. Dzhunov, J. Ebke, U. Egede, M. Jha, L. Kokoszkiewicz, H. C. Lee, A. Maier, J. Mościcki, T. München, W. Reece, B. Samset, M. Slater, D. Tuckett, D. Van der Ster and M. Williams,
    Reinforcing user data analysis with Ganga in the LHC era: scalability, monitoring and user-support,
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 331, 072011 (2011), [DOI:10.1088/1742-6596/331/7/072011] (4 citations)

Other Qualifications and Awards

11/20
Australian Institute of Physics
Postgraduate Excellence in Physics Medal 2020
12/18
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems
EQUS Prize for best student paper
07/18
University of Sydney, Australia
Postgraduate Research Prize for outstanding academic achievement
07/18-09/19
University of Sydney Nano Institute, Australia
The John Makepeace Bennett Gift Scholarship for excellence in nanoscience
03/16-09/19
Australian Commonwealth Government
Australian Postgraduate Award for exceptional research potential
07/11, 12, 14
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
3 Awards for Extraordinary Service
07/08-02/10
Institute of Physics, UK
Undergraduate Bursary for performance in BSc Honours Physical Science
01/07
The Open University Department of Physics and Astronomy, UK
The Peter Napier Prize for best performance in 2006 in course The Physical World
05/04
Sun Microsystems
Sun Certified Web Component Developer for Java 2 Enterprise Platform (96%)
04/02
Sun Microsystems
Sun Certified Programmer for Java 2 Platform (94%)
02/95-03/95
International House, London, UK
RSA/UCLES Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language
08/93-07/94
L’Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France
Diplôme supérieur d’études françaises (mention BIEN)