Fast, but not reckless? $315M for new DARPA QBI program

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QBI expands to New Mexico

New Mexico and DARPA announced the Quantum Frontier Project to accelerate the development, testing, and validation of emerging quantum technologies. The state joins Illinois and Maryland as part of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, dedicated to determining whether utility-scale quantum computing can be achieved by 2033.

New Mexico has committed $315 million, according to a story from Reuters. About $185 million of that investment will come from the state’s sovereign wealth fund for VC firms to invest in quantum-related companies in New Mexico. “Depending on results achieved,” DARPA will provide matching contributions of up to $60 million over a four-year period, the agency said in a statement.

"We don't intend to be reckless, but we intend to be fast," Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham told Reuters.

National Quantum Virtual Lab

NSF selected four teams to move past the pilot stage of its National Quantum Virtual Laboratory and begin to “design practical ways to expand access to the hardware and software needed for quantum science, engineering and technology development.” Each will receive $4 million over two years. The teams include:

• Quantum Advantage Class Trapped Ions system, led by Duke’s Kenneth Brown

• Quantum Computing Applications of Photonics, led by University of New Mexico’s Marek Osinski

• Wide-Area Quantum Network to Demonstrate Quantum Advantage, led by SUNY Stony Brook’s Eden Figueroa Barragan

• Open-Stack Rydberg Atom Quantum Computing Laboratory, led by MIT’s Dirk Englund

An announcement from NSF said that the agency expects to select a second cohort of teams to take part in the program later in 2025. A project led by UCLA — meant to develop quantum sensors — was the only project funded in NSF’s August 2024 round of pilots that did not receive ongoing NQVL funding this week.

“The National Quantum Virtual Laboratory is a critical bridge between basic discovery and deployment, specifically focused on turning America’s leadership in fundamental quantum science into practical technologies, products, and systems that will strengthen our nation’s competitiveness and ensure U.S. dominance in this field for decades to come,” said Brian Stone. Stone is chief of staff at NSF and currently performing the duties of the director, because both that position and the deputy director position are vacant and without a nominee.

Read the full announcement from NSF.

Oxide reduction

Using environmental transmission electron microscopy, a multi-institutional team led by Binghamton University visualized the distinct oxide reduction processes of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. These processes are used to produce metals, catalysts, and other materials critical to quantum science.

“For metal production, the key challenge is efficiently removing atomic oxygen from metal oxides to yield pure metals,” said Guangwen Zhou, a professor at Binghamton. “The goal is to drive this reduction process using less energy, at lower temperatures, and with minimal carbon dioxide emissions. Our study offers insights that can help guide the choice of gases or reductants to accelerate reaction kinetics, making metal extraction faster, cleaner and more energy efficient.”

This work was published in Nature.

Jiuzhang 4.0

Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China announced that their Jiuzhang 4.0 photon-based quantum computer achieved quantum advantage on a Gaussian boson sampling problem. But New Scientist magazine asks whether the achievement really “matters,” discussing the system with leaders at Xanadu, Quantinuum, University of Chicago, University of Twente, Polytechnique Montréal, and Sapienza University.

The article points out that previous, similar runs on the computer were “thwarted as classical computers [soon] replicated their results, sometimes in under an hour.”

Read the full article in New Scientist.

Quickbits

• Universal quantum gate set for GKP logical qubits (Nature Physics)

• Quantum logic with bosonic error correction (Nature Physics)

• Cleveland Clinic Launches New Round of Quantum Innovation Catalyzer Program

Quantum Campus is edited by Bill Bell, a science writer and marketing consultant who has covered physics and high-performance computing for more than 25 years. Disclosure statement.