Editor’s note: CQE members and collaborators included in this collaboration include Mike Wasielewski (INQUIRE/Northwestern University), Xuedan Ma (Argonne/Northwestern), Jeffrey Long (UC-Berkeley/LBNL), Joel Yuen-Zhou (UC-San Diego), Gregory Fuchs (Cornell), Michael Flatté (Univ. of Iowa), Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin (Ohio State Univ.), Nathalie de Leon (Princeton), and Randall Goldsmith (Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison).
By Julianne Beck
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Basic Energy Sciences selected a new Northwestern University research initiative, the Center for Molecular Quantum Transduction (CMQT), to receive $12.4 million in funding as an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC). The funding will support a four-year enterprise that begins on August 1, 2020. CMQT is directed by Michael R. Wasielewski, Clare Hamilton Hall Professor of Chemistry; Executive Director, Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN), and a member of the executive committee for Northwestern’s Initiative for Quantum Information Research and Engineering (INQUIRE).
“Our research is focused on quantum-to-quantum transduction, the conversion of quantum signals from one form of energy to another, which is an essential element of quantum information science (QIS),” explained Wasielewski. “The anticipated discoveries will create foundational knowledge within the sphere of basic energy sciences, which will support the development of new approaches to QIS having a major positive impact on both the US and global economy.”
Advancing knowledge in QIS is broadly recognized as an urgent, multidisciplinary challenge. Quantum science innovation offers an opportunity to greatly improve information processing and communications on a transformative, global scale, as well as provide new sensors having unprecedented sensitivity and selectivity.
CMQT is one of six new centers funded through the 2020 awards, in which 10 centers received funding. In all, EFRC programs address pressing scientific challenges through multi-disciplinary research teams to advance energy technologies. The new funding allows Northwestern to continue to provide cutting edge research in quantum science on a global scale. Northwestern is also active with quantum research networks as a member of the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE).
Read more at Northwestern University.
Image: Northwestern Professor Michael R. Wasielewski works with students to tune an ultrafast laser system used for quantum transduction experiments. Credit: Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern.