DOE’s Office of Fusion Energy Science Funds $4 Million in Quantum Matter Exploration

(Rochester.edu) A $4 million grant—from the Quantum Information Science Research for Fusion Energy Sciences (QIS) program within the Department of Energy’s Office of Fusion Energy Science—will help reearchers better understand and apply the quantum (subatomic) phenomena that cause materials to be transformed at pressures more than a million—even a billion—times the atmospheric pressure on Earth.”
The potential dividends are huge, including:
Superfast quantum computers immune to hacking
Cheap energy created from fusion and delivered over superconducting wires.
A more secure stockpile of nuclear weapons as a deterrent.
A better understanding of how planets and other astronomical bodies form – and even whether some might be habitable.
“This three-year effort, led by the University of Rochester, will leverage world-class expertise and facilities, and open a new chapter of quantum matter exploration,” says lead investigator Gilbert “Rip” Collins, who heads the University’s high energy density physics program. The project also includes researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Buffalo, the University of Utah, and Howard University and collaborators at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of Edinburgh.