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SCIENCE
Research Poised to Take a Quantum Leap
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llinois Institute of Technology is charging into the quantum information sciences with funding from the United States Department of Energy’s five-year, $575 million commitment to the National Quantum Initiative. It includes funding for five new Quantum Information Science Research Centers nationwide, of which two include Illinois Tech faculty. John Zasadzinski, Paul and Suzi Schutt Endowed Chair in Science and professor of physics, performs superconducting tunneling spectroscopy on sample pieces from particle accelerator superconducting radio-frequency cavities. His proposal for the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory incorporates using this form of spectroscopy to help identify the sources of decoherence in quantum bits (qubits) and potential ways to mitigate the problem. Such research should help increase the length of time a qubit can effectively process information. While “bits” in conventional computers are transistors that are either off or on to create a binary logic system, qubits oscillate between two states, much like a pendulum, while conducting useful calculations during the motion. This ability makes a quantum computer much more efficient in terms of the resources of time and space that are needed to process complex computations with applications in a wide variety of fields from defense and financial trading to unraveling the myster-
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ies surrounding the origins of the universe. “If we disrupt the pendulum, say, with a puff of air, we destroy the simple harmonic motion, it becomes decoherent, and the qubit becomes useless,” Zasadzinski says. “The sources of decoherence in current superconducting-based qubits is the most important question in the field.” Rakshya Khatiwada, assistant professor of physics and associate scientist at Fermilab, focuses on developing quantum sensors for ultra-light dark matter detection. She and two of her colleagues at Fermilab were awarded $4.1 million for their project through the Quantum Science Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Khatiwada’s project aims to develop a high throughput cryogenic testing facility for novel quantum sensors and devices that will be controlled through highly multiplexed readout electronics, an essential area of research in scaling up the qubit infrastructure for quantum computing and sensing. “We are charting a new territory in the quantum science field by investigating and fabricating novel sensors and their readout techniques and are paving the way forward for science in this relatively new area,” Khatiwada says. “One of the current challenges in quantum computing is efficiently scaling up control and readout of a large array of qubits without adding significant heat load and bulky electronics in the dilution refrigerator, where quantum computers are built.”
With Khatiwada’s project, an array of novel qubits and devices will be controlled and readout with minimal electronics and heat load, which will be applicable not only to quantum computing, but also in developing highly sensitive dark matter detectors. The Department of Physics at Illinois Tech is expanding its research and involvement in quantum science with its faculty and graduate students working in various subfields, including quantum materials and systems, sensing and computing, and collaborating with different academic, national labs, and industry partners. The NQI awards will fund the project from 2020–25 and will open many opportunities for students as well as for postdocs. —Casey Moffitt
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