Berkeley Quantum harnesses the expertise and facilities of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley to accelerate the development of quantum information science for national competitiveness and to address today’s most difficult research challenges. By capitalizing on resources co-located in the Bay Area and across the country, Berkeley Quantum will advance U.S. quantum capabilities by conducting basic research, fabricating and testing quantum-based devices and technologies, and educating the next generation of researchers.
Berkeley Quantum boasts end-to-end expertise in quantum technologies, from theoretical foundations to applications. Our core capabilities include:
Codesign for Quantum Computation
By storing and manipulating information in quantum bits, or qubits, quantum computers hold the promise of solving problems far beyond the reach of today’s computers.
Qubits and algorithms for science: Berkeley Lab leads a DOE Quantum Algorithms Team to enable near-term quantum computing for chemical science research. The Lab also heads DOE’s Advanced Quantum-Enabled Simulation (AQuES) Pathfinder group, and is working closely with the algorithm team to codesign multi-qubit processors and algorithms. The hardware team is working to demonstrate multi-qubit processors with 100 elements with full control. The fabrication of these devices will leverage capabilities at the Molecular Foundry and the Quantum Nanoelectronics Laboratory at UC Berkeley.
A collaborative research laboratory to accelerate quantum computers: On the horizon is the development of a collaborative research laboratory that will make state-of-the-art quantum processor technologies available to a broad user base. It will blend multi-core quantum computation with cutting edge classical control technologies pioneered at Berkeley Lab.
Sensors and Detectors
New sensors that leverage quantum phenomena have the potential to measure information at or beyond the quantum limit for precision, leading to breakthrough discoveries in physics, materials science, and biology.
A quantum microscope: Measuring the structure of beam-sensitive samples such as proteins using transmission electron microscopy is challenging. Using too few electrons produces a noisy reconstruction, while too many electrons destroys the sample. The emerging field of quantum metrology offers a solution: quantum-enhancement measurement protocols that improve signal-to-noise while lowering the electron dose. Scientists at the the National Center for Electron Microscopy, a Molecular Foundry facility, are designing a Quantum Electron Microscope that will have these capabilities.
The hunt for dark matter: The reach of low-mass dark matter experiments is limited by sensor technology. New detectors based on quantum information science techniques promise noise reduction below the kT quantum limit achievable with cooling. These detectors could detect very small signals with much higher signal to noise than previously possible.
Communications and Networking
Quantum networking enables the transmission of quantum information between physically separated quantum processors. In addition, quantum mechanics allows information to have a unique tag: to observe the information is to perturb it. These attributes can be harnessed for incredibly fast and secure communications.
Semiconductor emitters: Color centers in diamond, such as the nitrogen-vacancy center, are promising qubits due to long spin coherence times. They can also operate as single-photon sources for quantum communications and networking systems. Key challenges are the efficient formation of color centers with reproducible quantum emission properties. Berkeley Lab scientists have developed beam-based tools for the local formation of color centers and are developing novel color centers with tailored properties.
Quantum repeaters: Efficient quantum communication over long distances will likely require a quantum repeater, in which quantum information and entanglement are swapped between flying qubits and “refreshed” without running afoul of the no-cloning theorem of quantum mechanics. Groups at Berkeley Lab are exploring a series of potential approaches for realizing a quantum repeater, such as color-center qubits.
