Quantum thermodynamics? A 'strange juxtaposition'

This is a preview issue of Quantum Campus, sharing the latest in quantum science and technology from university campuses. We publish every Friday and are always looking for news from researchers across the country. Want to see your work featured? Submit your ideas to the editor.

RIT scores NORDTECH funding

Rochester Institute of Technology and its collaborators earned nearly $4 million to attack some of the current limitations of quantum networks. The money comes through the Northeast Regional Defense Technology Hub, which is part of the Biden administration’s Tech Hubs Program.

The team will develop a heterogeneous quantum network to link ion-based qubits and photonic-based qubits using photonic chips. It also includes the Air Force Research Laboratory, Yale, and Duke.

“Single types of qubits have been networked together but the overall performance has been limited. By building a network using a variety of qubits — a heterogeneous quantum network — the advantages of the different types of qubits can be leveraged for their specific functionalities, such as, processing, sensing or storage,” according to Stefan Preble, the project’s PI.

Find out more in RIT’s announcement.

Steampunk physics

NIST’s Nicole Yunger Halpern described her work in quantum thermodynamics and in establishing criteria to develop autonomous quantum machines. These machines include quantum circuits, clocks, and refrigerators that could reset superconducting qubits.

In steampunk, “there’s this strange juxtaposition of the old setting and futuristic technology,” she said in a recent profile. “That’s what we do in quantum thermodynamics.”

Read the full Science News article.

A magic moment

Published this week, a study characterized how a random stabilizer code subject to coherent errors exhibits a phase transition in magic — magic being a property of quantum states that enables universal fault-tolerant quantum computing. The stabilizer codes use multiqubit measurements to detect deviations from logical qubit states, and the research shows methods of driving the error-correcting codes into high-magic states.

“A better understanding of this behavior in the resource theory of magic could help to identify the origins of quantum speedup and lead to methods for more efficient magic state generation,” authors from the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, IonQ, and the Duke Quantum Center said in the article.

Read the full paper in Nature Physics.

Parks & Reclamation

The Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, named its board of directors. Built on a former US Steel manufacturing site, the park is expected to include a $200 million cryogenic facility and a DARPA-sponsored quantum testing facility, among many other public and private investments.

Further details and the full list of board members are available from Crain’s Chicago Business.

Quickbits

• Infleqtion wins DOE SBIR grant to develop its quantum computing optimization platform

• Glasgow-led team controls organic molecule’s spin and measures it with visible light at room temperature

• The Pentagon’s John Burke highlights DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative and quantum applications initiative in speech

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