The U.S. National Science Foundation has renewed the CQE community’s two NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes, awarding five-year investments of $37.5 million each to the University of Chicago–led Quantum Sensing for Biophysics and Bioengineering (NSF QuBBE) and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign–led Hybrid Quantum Architectures and Networks (HQAN).
In addition to renewing QuBBE, HQAN, and three other inaugural QLCIs created under the 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act, the NSF established three new centers for a total investment of $290 million.
"For more than four decades, NSF has been laying the foundational groundwork of research and discovery that is powering today's modern quantum computing, sensing and communication," said Brian Stone, performing the duties of the NSF director. "It's time for focused activities to leverage that base of knowledge to drive us even farther forward to the benefit of all Americans. The NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes are a next step for us in understanding the quantum world we live in."
NSF QuBBE advances quantum sensing technologies that can reveal biological processes difficult or impossible to observe with conventional tools. NSF HQAN studies modular approaches to quantum computing, in which smaller quantum processing units (QPUs) are networked to achieve greater combined computing power. This approach avoids the technical difficulties of directly scaling QPUs, and most experts agree that this is the approach most likely to yield quantum computers with the largest advantage.
Both QuBBE and HQAN run programs to prepare a robust quantum workforce — an effort essential to the sector's ability to scale.
QuBBE: From quantum experiments to biological tools
During its first phase, NSF QuBBE supported advances across quantum sensing and biology, including genetically encodable qubits, nanodiamond sensors capable of detecting cellular activity, advances in high-field nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance, and novel approaches to using entanglement for biosensing.
Among those advances, research led by UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering Associate Professor Peter Maurer and Liew Family Professor David Awschalom, both NSF QuBBE co-principal investigators, along with their collaborators, demonstrated that fluorescent proteins can function as spin qubits, opening the possibility of quantum sensors that can be genetically expressed directly within cells. Awschalom also is the founding director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange.
“In the first phase of QuBBE, we used diamond and molecular quantum sensors to probe biological processes, but a key challenge was placing these sensors exactly where they are needed in living systems," Maurer said. "This motivated us to develop protein qubits – genetically encodable quantum sensors that are roughly ten times smaller than diamond sensors and can potentially be targeted with precision inside cells. Phase two gives us the opportunity to turn these discoveries into tools for biology."
The scientific convergence fostered through NSF QuBBE has also helped catalyze new efforts to move quantum sensing toward biomedical applications, including the formation of the Berggren Center for Quantum Biology and Medicine, housed at the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering in collaboration with UChicago Medicine and the Biological Sciences Division. The Center is advancing the development and adoption of quantum technologies for medicine and training physicians and physician-scientists to work at the intersection of quantum science and healthcare.
In the coming years, NSF QuBBE will drive advances in four interconnected research areas: developing novel quantum nanoprobes for biological sensing; exploring entanglement and squeezed sensing; advancing in vivo measurement with quantum sensors; and accelerating the adoption of quantum sensing across biology and medicine.
Researchers will pursue approaches ranging from improving nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond to developing protein-based quantum sensors that can operate within biological systems, while investigating how entanglement, advanced imaging, theory, and computation could enable new ways of measuring biological activity.
“The opportunity in this next phase is to integrate the quantum sensor and the biological question from the beginning,” said Allison Squires, deputy director and co-principal investigator of NSF QuBBE and Neubauer Family Assistant Professor at the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. “Rather than developing a technology in isolation and then looking for an application, we can design these tools for implementation in the complex biological environments where we ultimately want them to work.”
HQAN: Laying the foundation for modular quantum computing approaches
In its first phase, HQAN researchers have made many technical achievements that have laid the foundation for modular approaches. The second phase will build on these achievements to deliver an industry-ready pathway for implementing modular principles.
“The first phase of HQAN has made substantial progress in terms of both research advances and building the quantum workforce of the future,” said Brian DeMarco, Illinois physics professor and NSF HQAN director and principal investigator. “We have set the stage for modular quantum computing, which was largely unexplored when we started but now appears on the quantum roadmaps of major companies. I am also proud that we are a regional center anchored in the Midwest, where we have been a key parter of the Chicago Quantum Exchange and driven new initiates such as the Illinois Quantum Microelectronics Park.”
The achievements of the first phase include: entangled states in a four-node superconducting circuit (SC) quantum network; quantum-limited millimeter-wave–optical transduction using cold atoms coupled to a superconducting resonator; the first reconfigurable SC quantum computing modules; the first autonomous stabilization of remote entanglement in a network; the first algorithms implemented on a small neutral atom array; the first atom-array modules with over 1,000 sites; the first two-species neutral atom array module with interspecies gates; and quantum secret sharing in a triangular SC modular processor. To date, NSF HQAN researchers have published over 210 peer-reviewed articles.
The second phase will build on the achievements of the first to close the remaining gaps so modular quantum computing can be fully implemented. This involves demonstrating basic operations, or application primitives, on modular platforms, laying the foundations for software implementations such as algorithms, error correction and compilers. These efforts will be complemented by advances in the interconnects used to link QPU modules. In addition, researchers will explore new approaches to quantum computing, focusing on chip-scale integration of quantum architectures, more energy efficient quantum photonics and compact internode entanglement.
“Illinois has made a bold commitment to becoming a global leader in quantum technology, and Grainger Engineering is proud to help turn that vision into reality,” said Rashid Bashir, dean of Illinois’ Grainger College of Engineering where NSF HQAN is hosted. “Together with our partners and NSF, we will advance the fundamental architectures needed to make quantum computing scalable and useful, while strengthening the talent, partnerships and innovation ecosystem that will drive the industry forward. Our leadership in this center reflects the U of I’s unique ability to help shape the quantum economy of the future.”
HQAN and QuBBE: Building a quantum workforce
NSF HQAN participants are also working to build a quantum workforce through educational programs that have brought quantum science to over 12,000 participants. By training researchers of all levels, NSF HQAN has placed 27 alums into high-profile industry positions, 17 into faculty positions and nine to national laboratories.
It has created two programs to support K-12 education that have reached over 12,000 students across the country: TeachQuantum, which gives teachers a six-week research experience and one year of curriculum development support, and Wonders of Quantum Physics, which brings quantum sciences topics to classrooms with demonstrations, hands-on activities and inquiry-based learning. NSF HQAN also works to develop a quantum workforce by training researchers at the graduate and postdoctoral levels.
By the end of the program, NSF HQAN aims to deliver a comprehensive pathway to modular quantum computing with integrated hardware and software. The result will be ready to translate to an industry-ready solution that realizes quantum advantage.
A core regional cohort is formed by Illinois, the University of Chicago, the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Northwestern University with Stanford University and the MIT Lincoln Laboratory providing critical capabilities. The second phase center will have 16 industry partners that include Google, IBM, IonQ, and Quantinuum.
“Quantum technology is a strategic priority for the state of Illinois, and HQAN’s efforts are vital to addressing the needs of the state, the Midwest region, and more broadly the nation,” said Preeti Chalsani, the chief quantum officer for the state of Illinois. “HQAN is a major driver of quantum research and quantum workforce pipeline in the area. It is bringing together the region’s major universities to address questions that will advance quantum technologies in meaningful ways and train the highly specialized workforce that is needed to bring this technology to life.”
NSF QuBBE's workforce programs bring together the University of Chicago, Chicago State University (CSU), and the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) to create pathways into quantum science and technology.
During NSF QuBBE's first phase, the Institute partnered with CSU to establish the Quantum Institute, including Q-Cert, a one-year post-baccalaureate Quantum Science Certification program. In its next phase, NSF QuBBE plans to expand that model, including the launch of a quantum master's program at CSU and further integration of undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D. training.
The work will complement CSU’s new Quantum Education, Science and Technology Center, CQuEST, which is the university’s center for innovation in quantum science and microelectronics, connecting education, research and workforce development as Chicago's quantum ecosystem grows.
“Building the future of quantum science requires us to build pathways for students to see themselves as part of it,” said Valerie Goss, NSF QuBBE co-principal investigator and workforce development lead at Chicago State University. “Through our partnership with NSF QuBBE, we are creating opportunities for students to gain the knowledge, research experience and connections they need to participate in this rapidly developing field.”
The five original QLCIs were among 10 quantum research centers established under the 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act. In November, US Department of Energy (DOE) announced $625 million in funding to renew its five National Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers. Two of the five are in the CQE region: Q-NEXT led by Argonne National Laboratory and Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center (SQMS) led by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. DOE Under Secretary of Science Darío Gil made the DOE centers announcement during keynote remarks at the Chicago Quantum Summit.
This story was adapted from stories that were originally published by the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, where readers can learn more about the QuBBE renewal, and The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where readers can learn more about the HQAN renewal.