About Quantum Moves 2

This game helps our research in:

• Optimal control of atoms.
• Building foundation for Quantum Technology.
• Human intuition in combination with optimization algorithms.

Quantum Moves 2 is a gamified citizen science project in the field of quantum physics and hybrid-intelligence. The challenge is transferring atoms in the best possible way from a specified initial state to the desired target state within very short timescales (sub-milliseconds) in a quantum laboratory. In the world of quantum physics, this is the complex task called quantum optimal control. The idea of the game is quite simple: in every gameplay, the mouse movements simulate the movement of laser beams used in quantum labs to control and transfer atoms. Every gameplay creates a solution which appears on our end as data describing the movement of the laser beam and quality of the solution. The challenges in the game are based on cutting-edge research problems in quantum computing and quantum matter-wave optics.

At ScienceAtHome, we believe in the power of human intuition. In the second version of Quantum Moves, players get easy access to an optimization algorithm. Conventionally, researchers run these optimization algorithms in a computer with a set of instructions that define the problem they want to solve. We believe that replacing some parts of a conventional algorithm with the human decision process could lead us to high-quality solutions.

In Quantum Moves 2, the players can choose which solutions are worth optimizing and how long should the algorithm run. The decision in the human hand about when and where to start and stop the optimization algorithm introduces high-level heuristics and human intuition to the conventional algorithm. Usually, these additions are very difficult to capture and implement programmatically. In this workflow, human intuition and conventional optimization are working in tandem to produce high-quality solutions. This is an important step towards hybrid-intelligence and also towards extreme citizen science where the players are involved in different parts of the research process and get more understanding about the science problem behind the game.