News
Chicago Quantum Exchange adds new international and regional partners
Chicago Quantum Exchange
July 28, 2021
The Chicago Quantum Exchange has added the Weizmann Institute of Science and The Ohio State University to its community of members and partners. The Weizmann Institute, in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world’s leading multidisciplinary institutions in basic science and will join the CQE as an international partner. Ohio State University will become CQE’s first regional partner, strengthening the Exchange’s connections throughout the Midwest and the nation.
DOE Announces $73 Million for Materials and Chemical Sciences Research to Advance Quantum Science and Technology
Chicago Quantum Exchange
July 23, 2021
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced $73 million in funding for 29 three-year projects to advance quantum information science for various applications. Researchers within the Chicago Quantum Exchange community lead 4 of the 29 funded projects from national laboratories and universities across the U.S. The research will focus on understanding, predicting, and manipulating matter at the electronic, atomic and molecular levels.
Engineer Farah Fahim awarded $2.5M to advance AI-on-chip for data processing
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
July 16, 2021
Farah Fahim, a Fermilab engineer, has been awarded an Early Career Research Award to study the application of neural networks in small areas within the pixel detector of the Large Hadron Collider. The technique is called “artificial intelligence on-chip” with the long-term objective of real-time particle track reconstruction. Fahim has a doctorate in electrical engineering and has worked at Fermilab for 12 years, developing pixel detectors for a variety of applications.
Opening the gate to the next generation of information processing
Argonne National Laboratory
July 13, 2021
Research from scientists at Argonne paves the way for improved information transfer in both classical and quantum regimes. The new technology allows real-time control of information transfer between microwave photons and magnons. Relevant potential applications for the discovery include signal switching, low-power computing and quantum networking.
Researchers, partners and trainees exchange knowledge and insights at CQE Member and Partner Workshop
Chicago Quantum Exchange
July 1, 2021
In April 2021, the Chicago Quantum Exchange hosted the third annual Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE) Member and Partner Workshop. The two-day workshop provided opportunities to hear from CQE partners; engage in technical discussions spanning quantum communication, sensors and detectors, and quantum computing and algorithms; and for CQE trainees to discuss their work with the members and partners.
Chicago Quantum Profile: Eric Chitambar
Chicago Quantum Exchange
June 30, 2021
Eric Chitambar is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he studies quantum information theory. He’s interested in understanding different ways that fundamental non-classical features of quantum systems, such as entanglement and coherence, can be used to enhance communication. To students thinking about a career in quantum information science, he says, “Do it!”
Postdoc Kate Smith Receives IEEE Early Career Award in Microelectronics
University of Chicago
June 28, 2021
Kate Smith, a postdoctoral researcher in the research group of Professor Fred Chong and the Chicago Quantum Exchange’s IBM Postdoctoral Trainees Program, received the Kenneth C. Smith Early Career Award in Microelectronics from the IEEE Computer Society, Technical Committee on Multiple-Valued Logic (IEEE TC MVL). The award, which is typically given to tenure-track faculty, celebrates Smith’s “contributions to quantum computing systems and circuits.”
Duality Quantum Accelerator Accepts Six Startups into Inaugural Cohort
Chicago Quantum Exchange
July 15, 2021
Duality Quantum Accelerator, launched in April 2021, has accepted six quantum science and technology startups for its first cohort. The cohort will receive world-class business and entrepreneurship training, access to advanced facilities, mentorship from quantum science experts, and $50,000 in unrestricted funding. Duality is led by CQE and the Polsky Center along with founding partners, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Argonne National Laboratory, and P33.
Argonne announces 2022 Maria Goeppert Mayer Fellows, honoring the legacy of the physics Nobel Laureate
Argonne National Laboratory
June 28, 2021
Today, Argonne announced its 2022 Maria Goeppert Mayer Fellows; they are Nina Andrejevic, Shintaro Iwasaki, Tomas Polakovic and Leslie Rogers. They each display incredible promise in their fields, and they’ll be working alongside some of Argonne’s most accomplished scientists to conduct game-changing research in the coming years.
University of Chicago’s Polsky Center Appoints Chuck Vallurupalli to Lead Duality, Preeti Chalsani Named Deputy Director
Polsky Center for Entrepeneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago
June 17, 2021
The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago has appointed Chuck Vallurupalli, MBA ’05, as the inaugural senior director of Duality, the first accelerator program in the nation exclusively dedicated to supporting innovative quantum startup companies. Announced in April 2021, Duality is led by the Polsky Center and the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE), along with founding partners, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Argonne National Laboratory, and P33.
Correlated errors in quantum computers emphasize need for design changes
University of Wisconsin-Madison
June 16, 2021
In a study published June 16 in the journal Nature, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison found that errors are correlated across an entire superconducting quantum computing chip, highlighting a concern that must now be acknowledged and addressed in the quest for fault-tolerant quantum computers. Importantly, their work also points to mitigation strategies.
Specialized STEM camp introduces students to exploding science field
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
June 14, 2021
Just in southeastern Wisconsin, at least two dozen camps focusing on STEM — science, technology, engineering, math — are scheduled for this summer. Some are affiliated with universities; some with museums. Technology companies may get involved; General Electric, for example is sponsoring a girls’ STEM camp at Milwaukee School of Engineering and other sites across the country.
New internet woven from ‘spooky’ quantum links could supercharge science and commerce
Science
June 3, 2021
Research at cutting-edge universities and national laboratories are edging society towards the reality of a quantum internet. The quantum internet still has vast potential to be recognized and commercialized, and it is estimated that continental-scale network prototypes will exist within the next decade.
CQE corporate partner Toshiba breaks distance record for quantum communication
Toshiba
June 8, 2021
Chicago Quantum Exchange and Toshiba Corporation announced their partnership in May 2021, with Toshiba also releasing an announcement published entirely in Japanese. And in early June, Toshiba announced the first demonstration of quantum communications over more than 600 km (about 373 mi) of optical fibers.
Three EPiQC Papers Chosen By IEEE Micro for Annual Top Picks Awards
University of Chicago
May 27, 2021
Three UChicago CS papers advancing the field of quantum computing were recognized by the prestigious IEEE Micro Top Picks roundup of the best research from 2020 computer architecture conferences. The studies describe new methods for overcoming challenges in error correction and size constraints for the next wave of quantum computers, shortening the gap to practical and innovative uses of this exciting new technology.
IBM and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign plan to launch new Discovery Accelerator Institute
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
May 26, 2021
IBM and The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign plan to launch a large-scale collaboration designed to increase access to technology education and skill development, and to combine the strengths of academia and the industrial sector to spur breakthroughs in emerging areas of technology. Specifically, the planned collaboration will focus on the rapidly growing areas of hybrid cloud and AI, quantum information science and technology, accelerated materials discovery, and sustainability to accelerate the discovery of solutions to complex global challenges.
Chicago Quantum Exchange welcomes three new corporate partners focused on computing, communications, and strengthening the quantum economy
Chicago Quantum Exchange
May 19, 2021
The Chicago Quantum Exchange has added three new corporate partners to its growing community: Ally Financial, Corning Incorporated, and Toshiba Corporation.
Together, the Chicago Quantum Exchange and its corporate partners advance the science and engineering that is necessary to build and scale quantum technologies and develop practical applications, such as those for quantum computing and communications.
Three CQE scientists elected to National Academy of Sciences, one to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Chicago Quantum Exchange
May 10, 2021
Three Chicago Quantum Exchange scientists – Nadya Mason at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Laura Gagliardi at the University of Chicago; and Michael Wasielewski at Northwestern University – have recently been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), and Mason was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS).
Scientists Supersize Quantum Effects with Entangled Drum Duet
Scientific American
May 6, 2021
Two new papers published on Thursday in Science push the boundaries of the quantum effects physicists can achieve at a macroscopic scale. Both studies observed such effects in thin aluminum “drums” about the size of a red blood cell.
“The tricks described in these two papers are ways of evading what you might have thought is the limit on measuring forces coming from the Heisenberg uncertainty principle,” says Aashish Clerk, a condensed matter physicist at the University of Chicago, who was not involved with either study.
SQMS Center at Fermilab announces Carolyn B. Parker Fellowship for postdocs
Fermilab
May 6, 2021
Fermilab’s Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center, or SQMS, is announcing a new fellowship opportunity for Black and African American postdoctoral scholars this month: the Carolyn B. Parker Fellowship, named for the first African American woman to earn a postgraduate degree in physics. The fellowship is sponsored by the Department of Energy Office of Science.
In long-awaited breakthrough , UChicago scientists harness molecules into single quantum state
University of Chicago
April 28, 2021
R esearchers have big ideas for the potential of quantum technology, from unhackable networks to earthquake sensors. But all these things depend on a major technological feat: being able to build and control systems of quantum particles, which are among the smallest objects in the universe. That goal is now a step closer with the publication of a new method by University of Chicago scientists.
Blueprint for a robust quantum future
Argonne National Laboratory
April 28, 2021
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago and scientific institutes and universities in Japan, Korea and Hungary have established guidelines that will be an invaluable resource for the discovery of new defect-based quantum systems.
Sensitive qubit-based technique to accelerate search for dark matter
Fermilab, University of Chicago
April 12, 2021
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the University of Chicago have demonstrated a new technique based on quantum technology that will advance the search for dark matter, the invisible stuff that accounts for 85% of all matter in the universe.
Nation’s first quantum startup accelerator, Duality, launches at the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center and the Chicago Quantum Exchange
April 7, 2021
Program to leverage the region’s quantum ecosystem, including the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Argonne National Laboratory, and P33, to help startups bring their innovations to the marketplace
A new spin on energy-efficient electronics
Argonne National Laboratory
March 29, 2021
The promising field of spintronics seeks to manipulate electron spin to make a new breed of small and low-power electronic devices. A recent study used Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source to bring the widespread use of spintronics closer to reality.