Stony Brook University is leading a new project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance Quantum Information Science and Technology (QIST) in the United States. The project is one of the first five under the NSF’s National Quantum Virtual Laboratory (NQVL) program. Each project receives $1 million in funding. The Stony Brook-led project is in collaboration with Columbia University, Yale University, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL).
Global research with quantum computing and quantum networks aims to develop a quantum internet, a network of quantum computers, sensors, and communication devices that will create, process, and transmit quantum states and entanglement. This emerging technology is expected to enhance society’s wider internet system and provide services and securities that the current internet cannot offer.
Titled “Wide-Area Quantum Network to Demonstrate Quantum Advantage (SCY-QNet),” the project involves building a long-distance 10-node quantum network to demonstrate quantum advantage through quantum communication and distributed quantum processing, enabling secure and privacy-preserving long-distance communications systems.
“This project has the potential to boost the scaling of quantum computing systems via quantum networks, forming a first version of the Quantum Internet,” says Eden Figueroa, PhD, Principal Investigator, Presidential Innovation Endowed Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University, and Director of the Center for Distributed Quantum Processing. Figueroa also holds a joint appointment with BNL.
“To realize this ambitious vision, we have assembled a team of leading quantum physicists, electrical engineers, and computer scientists in the region,” adds Figueroa.
“We are thrilled to have received this inaugural award from the National Science Foundation alongside our partner universities,” says Nina Maung, Senior Associate VP for Research Development and Partnerships at Stony Brook University. “It represents the considerable efforts each institution has dedicated to re-envisioning the future of quantum information science research, bound by a shared sense of the importance of collaborative scientific discovery for societal advancement.”
Figueroa and colleagues say that the project will not only advance science and the internet but also cultivate a quantum-ready workforce.
For more details about the project and its collaborators see this SBU news story. For more about NSF’s NQVL program and all five pilot projects see this link in NSF newsroom. For more details on grant for Stony Brook-led research team see this NSF awards page.