Quantum News Briefs August 25: UCLA receives $1 million NSF grant to develop quantum sensors; Ken Dixon, seasoned telecommunications cxecutive, joins Qrypt’s Board of Advisors; Scientists edge toward scalable quantum simulations on a photonic chip + MORE

Quantum News Briefs August 25:

UCLA receives $1 million NSF grant to develop quantum sensors

A team of UCLA researchers has received a four-year, $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Quantum Sensing Challenges for Transformational Advances in Quantum Systems program. The funds will support research on new sensor technologies that can precisely measure the previously unmeasurable.
Led by Prineha Narang, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry who holds the Howard Reiss Career Development Chair, the investigators will use quantum sensors to measure and understand atmospheric and aerosol chemistries that standard atmospheric sensors cannot detect. The particles contribute to poor air quality and climate change, and improved monitoring could help scientists identify better ways to clean up the air.
The other investigators include Suzanne Paulson, department chair of atmospheric and oceanic sciences; Andrea Bertozzi, a UCLA distinguished professor of mathematics and of mechanical and aerospace engineering; colleagues at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering; and Sunil Bhave of Purdue University. Together, they will aim to develop a network of sensors that take advantage of the unique behaviors of subatomic matter to observe atmospheric chemistry in real time by detecting minute quantities of particles or even single molecules of atmospheric constituents such as ammonia, nitrogen oxides and organic hydroperoxides.
Grant support for the UCLA project is aligned with the NSF’s broader strategy, backed by a $29 million investment nationwide, to realize the scientific and technological advances called for in the National Quantum Initiative Act of 2018 and outlined in the 2022 National Science and Technology Council report “Bringing Quantum Sensors to Fruition.”  Click here to read original article in-entirety on UCLA site.

Ken Dixon, seasoned telecommunications cxecutive, joins Qrypt’s Board of Advisors

Qrypt, the pioneering quantum-secure encryption company, announced on August22 the appointment of Ken Dixon, the CEO of Tillman FiberCo LLC, to its Board of Advisors (BoA). Dixon brings more than 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, including over two decades in senior leadership at Verizon. Quantum News Briefs summarizes the announcement.
Dixon is currently the CEO of Tillman FiberCo LLC, a company working to build and operate a 100% Fiber to the Premise (FTTP) network to deliver industry-leading symmetric gigabit broadband and internet access and services to residential and commercial customers. Prior to Tillman FiberCo LLC, Dixon served as group president and in other leadership roles across Verizon’s consumer and business markets. He led sales, marketing, operations and customer service strategy for voice, data and video services in Verizon’s wireline territory.
“Telecommunications serves as the backbone of global connectivity and information exchange, requiring us to handle vast amounts of sensitive information, including personal customer data, financial transactions, corporate communications and government intelligence. Confidence in privacy is clearly of the utmost importance,” said Dixon. “Qrypt is taking telecommunications to the next level of data protection with research-backed, quantum-secure encryption so our industry can maintain our commitment to public trust.”
“Providing secure communications is critical to protecting our right to privacy. Our team at Qrypt is thrilled to welcome Ken Dixon to our board to further our mission of protecting the world’s data in the telecommunications industry,” said Kevin Chalker, CEO and co-founder of Qrypt. “By bringing together industry experts across telecommunications, financial services and other highly regulated industries, we can strengthen critical infrastructure and permanently protect data through quantum-secure encryption.”  Click here to read the original announcement on Qrypt site.

Scientists edge toward scalable quantum simulations on a photonic chip

Scientists have made an important step toward developing computers advanced enough to simulate complex natural phenomena at the quantum level. While these types of simulations are too cumbersome or outright impossible for classical computers to handle, photonics-based quantum computing systems could provide a solution.
A team of researchers at the University of Rochester developed a new chip-scale optical quantum simulation system that could help make such a system feasible. The team, led by Qiang Lin, an electrical and computer engineer and optics expert, published the findings in Nature Photonics.
“For the first time, we have been able to produce a quantum-correlated synthetic crystal,” says Lin. “Our approach significantly extends the dimensions of the synthetic space, enabling us to perform simulations of several quantum-scale phenomena such as random walks of quantum entangled photons.”
This work was performed in part at the Cornell NanoScale Facility, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure, which is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation. NSF also supported the work with two research grants.
Dominique Dagenais, a program director in NSF’s Directorate for Engineering, “Scalability is a key challenge in quantum simulations, and this team is making very nice progress toward complex quantum computation.”  Click here to read NSF article in-entirety from on HPCWire.

NSF invests $38M to advance quantum information science

The U.S. National Science Foundation is investing $38 million to expand its support for quantum information science and engineering (QISE). Quantum News Briefs summarizes August 16 announcement.
From advancing the ways in which we create sustainable energy to improving cyber security, NSF’s Expanding Capacity in Quantum Information Science and Engineering (ExpandQISE) program is funding cutting-edge research across 22 grants. The program also broadens participation by building strong connections between new initiatives and existing high-impact QISE research, training, education and outreach efforts.
The “National Quantum Initiative Act” was passed in 2018 to meet the needs of the emerging field and ensure the U.S. continues serving as a global leader in science and engineering. For this purpose, NSF developed the ExpandQISE program to lower barriers to access and broaden the diversity of participating institutions.
This program helps grow QISE research capacity at institutions across the U.S. that have yet to be heavily engaged in such research and education. The support involves new collaborations between emerging research institutions and existing research centers such as NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes, Department of Energy National Research Centers, NSF Quantum Foundries, and leading QISE research Institutions. Minority-serving institutions and jurisdictions participating in the NSF Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) are especially encouraged to apply.
NSF awarded a total of $38 million across 22 grants spanning a variety of subjects, including physics, computer sciences, materials research, engineering and chemistry. Among the 22 awardee institutions are six historically Black colleges and universities and three Hispanic-serving institutions. Additionally, five awardee institutions are in jurisdictions participating in EPSCoR, which enhances the research competitiveness of targeted states, territories or commonwealths by strengthening science, technology, engineering and mathematics capacity and capability. Click here to read the announcement in-entirety.

Sandra K. Helsel, Ph.D. has been researching and reporting on frontier technologies since 1990.  She has her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona.