A quantum information scientist at NASA analyzes quantum-metrology-applicable devices that were built on an integrated photonics platform. Photo Credit:

Credit: NASA/Marvin Smith

In a lab at the NSF QLCI for Hybrid Quantum Architectures and Networks, a dual species neutral atom qubit array composed of cesium and rubidium atoms is configured to show the Willis Tower and the Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago.

Credit: Hannes Bernien (University of Chicago)

High school students in the Advanced Physics Summer Girls' Camp view an ion trap used for quantum information processing, a tour sponsored by the NSF QLCI for Robust Quantum Simulation. The students toured a lab used to explores different quantum physics applications for trapped ions, such as quantum information processing, quantum simulation, and quantum networking.

Credit: Emily Mercurio/University of Maryland

Astronaut Christina Koch unloads new hardware for the Cold Atom Lab aboard the International Space Station the week of Dec. 9, 2020. The Cold Atom Laboratory launched to the space station on May 21, 2018, aboard a Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK) Cygnus spacecraft from 's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Designed and built at JPL, CAL is sponsored by the International Space Station Program at 's Johnson Space Center in Houston, and the Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications (SLPSRA) Division of 's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at Headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit:

Credit: NASA

An atomic wavefunction, shown here in purple, contains the complete information about an atom, such as all its possible positions. A measurement, such as by a microscope, collapses the wavefunction so that the atom occupies a definite position. This wavefunction collapse also happens after a quantum computation and helps to provide the result of the calculation.

Credit: E. Edwards/JQI

Atomic ion qubit distributed computing and network testbed in the NSF QLCI for Hybrid Quantum Architectures and Networks.

Credit: Brian DeMarco, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

A lab explores novel applications of NV-centers in diamond.

Credit: John T. Consoli/University of Maryland

A rendering of entangled atoms within a new matter-wave interferometer, which could act as sensitive detectors.

Credit: Steven Burrows/Thompson Group/JILA.

A scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) campus in Boulder, Colorado is in the process of reassembling the pump system that evacuates the vacuum chamber where cesium atoms are laser-cooled. This is part of an effort to build the NIST-F4 atomic fountain clock.

Credit: Riley Wilson / NIST

A scientist at the NSF QLCI for Robust Quantum Simulation examines equipment used in the experimental implementations of waveguide cavities in quantum computation and simulation

Credit: University of Maryland

A quantum information scientist at NASA is aligning optics for a setup that converts laser light from one wavelength to another. Wavelength conversion technique allows researchers to use a single laser for multiple laboratory applications. Photo Credit:

Credit: NASA/Marvin Smith

Researchers at NIST and the Joint Quantum Institute used this microscopic device to test how well electrical charges can move around and how long they can maintain their fragile quantum states in 99.99% pure silicon, building a framework for judging what qualifies as quantum grade silicon for future quantum computers.

Credit: Aruna Ramanayaka / NIST

A 2023 NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program intern is adjusting equipment in the Quantum Metrology Lab at NASAs Glenn Research Center. Photo Credit:

Credit: NASA/Molly Kearns

Distributed quantum computer and network node based on neutral atoms qubits at the NSF QLCI for Hybrid Quantum Architectures and Networks.

Credit: Mark Saffman (University of Wisconsin Madison)

Between two optical objectives sits an integrated photonics chip that contains waveguide entanglement sources. Red laser light is used to highlight the chip. Photo Credit:

Credit: NASA/Marvin Smith

300 mm Quantum Integrated Photonics Wafer

Credit: AFRL Information Directorate

Close-up of individual design cells of a 300 mm quantum photonic wafer

Credit: AFRL Information Directorate

Barium trapped ion crystal

Credit: AFRL Information Directorate

Barium trapped ion crystal

Credit: AFRL Information Directorate

Close-up of individual design cells of a 300 mm quantum photonic wafer

Credit: AFRL Information Directorate

Laser beam passes through a vapor cell of rubidium atoms to measure microwave fields

Credit: ARL

Apparatus for receiving microwave communications signals with Rydberg states of rubidium atoms.

Credit: ARL

A scientist with Argonnes Center for Nanoscale Materials uses the Ultrafast Electron Microscope to investigate phenomena at the nanoscale with time resolution of less than a trillionth of a second. Scientists use this capability to study interactions in materials for quantum information science.

Credit: Argonne National Laboratory

A scientist uses an instrument at the Advanced Photon Source to study the structural dynamics of host materials of quantum sensors for Q-NEXT.

Credit: Argonne National Laboratory

In a method developed at Argonne for information processing, coherent information is exchanged (black undulating lines) between magnons (shaded red area) and microwave photons (shaded blue area). It is controlled by turning an electric pulse on and off (square wave at bottom).

Credit: Argonne National Laboratory

An artist's interpretation of hypersurfaces embedded in noise space. By combining experiments at different noise rates (spheres) and fitting hypersurfaces to the data (surfaces), Argonne scientists are able to recover noise-free quantum information.

Credit: Argonne National Laboratory

Illustration: Semiconductor quantum rings are illuminated by a laser and emitting single photons.

Credit: Argonne National Laboratory

A scientist at the Argonne Center for Nanoscale Materials, places a sample in the Hard X-ray Nanoprobe, an instrument used for imaging strain fields near defects and interfaces to understand structural correlations with chemical activity and dynamics in quantum and nanoscale materials for energy.

Credit: Mark Lopez, Argonne National Laboratory

A scientist from works on a dilution refrigerator, which is used to cool quantum devices.

Credit: Argonne National Laboratory

A scientist works to synthesize ultrapure diamond crystals and engineer electron spins that carry quantum information.

Credit: Argonne National Laboratory

A scientist uses a molecular beam epitaxy machine to create new materials for quantum communication.

Credit: Argonne National Laboratory

An illustration coupling the Er electron spin with a H nuclear spin in Y2SiO5 for quantum memory applications.

Credit: Mengen Wang, Van De Walle Computational Materials Group, University of California Santa Barbara.

Development of a closed-cycle cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscope sample holder with mK temperature stability and control at liquid-He temperature and below for probing of superconducting materials and electromagnetic waves carried superconducting circuits in their native working environment for quantum information science.

Credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory

C2QA investigators discuss applications of the Quantum Singular Value Transform.

Credit: Michael DeMarco, Brookhaven National Laboratory

The unique laser-free ultrafast transmission electron microscope at Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science (CMPMS) for quantum information science. This 200keV instrument developed at can generate MHz-GHz pulse trains synchronized with RF microwave excitations to study quantum materials at cryogenic temperatures.

Credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory

Probing the structure of quantum materials at the Spectroscopy Soft and Tender beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source-II at .

Credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers use cryogenic devices such as dilution refrigerators to understand quantum mechanical phenomena at extremely low temperatures.

Credit: Andrea Starr | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Researchers are using qubits to look for theorized particles of dark matter called axions. Equipped with ultrasensitive, low-noise quantum electronics, a dark matter detector can be tuned to different frequencies corresponding to signals of axions of different masses.

Credit: Reidar Hahn / Fermilab

A superconducting qubit used for quantum sensing sits next to a United States penny for scale.

Credit: Reidar Hahn / Fermilab

A scientist tests cavities in the Quantum Lab at Fermilabs Industrial Center Building (ICB).

Credit: Reidar Hahn / Fermilab

A scientist works on cryogenic ASICs for quantum computing. Designing cryogenic electronics — processors and sensors that can work at temperatures near absolute zero — is a fundamental challenge in the field of quantum computing.

Credit: Reidar Hahn / Fermilab

A scientist at Fermilab and member of the QSC installs quantum hardware in a dilution refrigerator at Fermilab. The refrigerator resides in a cleanroom 330 feet underground in Fermilabs MINOS underground experimental area. QSC researchers take advantage of this shielded, low-radioactivity environment to test and operate quantum sensors while avoiding background generated by cosmic rays and other environmental noise.

Credit: Ryan Postel / Fermilab

Self-aligned color centers in nitrogen-doped diamond, which could become a new quantum register with up to 10,000 qubits.

Credit: Thomas Schenkel/Berkeley Lab

Scientific apparatus for manipulating large arrays of individual strontium atoms to prepare them in tailored entangled states.

Credit: Kaufman group, University of Colorado Boulder/Quantum Systems Accelerator

QSA researchers work on the E8 experiment which uses ultracold atoms to study novel quantum phases of matter.

Credit: Keegan Houser/University of California Berkeley/Quantum Systems Accelerator

AQT Quantum processor unit

Credit: Advanced Quantum Testbed/Berkeley Lab

QSA researchers align laser light onto a quantum system of neutral atoms.

Credit: Kaufman group, University of Colorado Boulder/Quantum Systems Accelerator

AQT Quantum processor unit

Credit: Advanced Quantum Testbed/Berkeley Lab

AQT main cryogenic dilution refrigerator Blizzard

Credit: Advanced Quantum Testbed/Berkeley Lab

Equipment in a quantum research laboratory.

Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

An advanced software framework called XACC enables the programming of quantum code alongside standard classical code and integrates quantum computers from a number of vendors. Each sphere is a Bloch sphere, which visualizes the state of a qubit.

Credit: Michelle Lehman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Two-color pulse sequences are generated for spin lifetime and spin coherence measurements in a dilution refrigerator.

Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Materials that exhibit quantum properties such as defects in diamonds could enable faster, more accurate electronic devices.

Credit: Michelle Lehman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Before demonstrating quantum key distribution capabilities, a team from Oak Ridge and Los Alamos national laboratories prepared equipment at ORNL.

Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Quantum sensors use atoms of rubidium and other elements to split photons and reduce noise.

Credit: Michelle Lehman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Spin chains in a quantum system undergo a collective twisting motion as the result of quasiparticles clustering together.

Credit: Michelle Lehman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

ORNL and its partners are exploring the use of quantum key distribution to securely transfer data.

Credit: Michelle Lehman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

The quantum properties of light make it possible to exchange information with privacy and security alerts guaranteed by the laws of physics.

Credit: Michelle Lehman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A closed cycle dilution refrigerator designed for optical and scanning probe microscopies in variable magnetic fields at milliKelvin temperatures.

Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Optical tables and an ion trap chamber.

Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Graphical representation of a deuteron, the bound state of a proton (red) and a neutron (blue).

Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Quantum computing harnesses the spin state of quantum bits to solve complex problems while quantum algorithms offer remarkable improvements in computational efficiency.

Credit: Michelle Lehman/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A scientist conducts SRF work in the Materials Science Lab at Fermilab.

Credit: Reidar Hahn

SQMS leverages SRF and accelerator technology, hallmarks of Fermilab research, to inform advancements in quantum information science research.

Credit: Ryan Postel

A scientist inspects a dilution refrigerator set with a single cavity in the SQMS Quantum Lab.

Credit: Ryan Postel

Viable quantum computing technology relies on the development of qubits that can maintain quantum information for periods of time longer than 1 second. At Fermilab, scientists and engineers are turning to existing particle accelerator technology to achieve this goal. In this image, a scientist features a small SRF cavity for use in quantum systems.

Credit: Reidar Hahn

Trapped ions are among the types of qubits used for quantum computing. The advanced Phoenix 2 trap developed by Sandia National Laboratories can hold a string of 44 ions over a length of 250 micrometers, or about four diameters of human hair. Funding: IARPA. Image credit: Sandia National Laboratories.

Credit: No Credit

NISTs microfabricated trapped-ion quantum processor. Electrodes guide the ion (symbolized by the red sphere) to a quantum-state readout zone, where it is illuminated by a laser beam (blue) above an integrated superconducting photon detector. The ion might emit photons in response, or might not, indicating its quantum state. By watching the detector signal for the appearance or absence of clicks of photons, NIST researchers determine the ions state of 0 or 1 very accurately. Funding: IARPA and the NIST Quantum Information Program. Image credit: NIST.

Credit: No Credit

A scientist from the loading a sample on a scanning tunneling microscope/lithography system that is used to fabricate quantum information devices using atomically precise additive manufacturing.

Credit: Laboratory for Physical Sciences

A scientist from the loading a high quality factor superconductor resonator on the measurement stage of an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator that can reach temperatures as low as 50 mK.

Credit: Laboratory for Physical Sciences

A scientist from the using a scanning electron microscope to characterize silicon germanium heterostructures designed to support hole qubit devices

Credit: Laboratory for Physical Sciences

A scientist from the works on a dilution refrigerator that is used for measuring two level system defects in superconducting quantum devices at millikelvin temperatures.

Credit: Laboratory for Physical Sciences

A Space Communications and Navigation intern testing equipment in the Quantum Communications Lab at s Glenn Research Center.

Credit: NASA

Two-photon interferometric experiment for the Bell test of local realism at s Glenn Research Centers Quantum Communications Lab.

Credit: NASA

Sorting optics to filter out the pump laser and separate the signal and idler photons into distinct channels at s Glenn Research Centers Quantum Communications Lab.

Credit: NASA

Sorting optics to filter out the pump laser and separate the signal and idler photons into distinct channels at s Glenn Research Centers Quantum Communications Lab.

Credit: NASA

A Space Communications and Navigation intern is testing equipment in the Quantum Communications Lab at s Glenn Research Center.

Credit: NASA

An entangled photon source, with sorting optics to filter out the pump laser and separate the signal and idler photons into distinct channels, at s Glenn Research Centers Quantum Communications Lab.

Credit: NASA

Frequency up-conversion module and entangled photon source at s Glenn Research Centers Quantum Communications Lab. The up-conversion module produces green laser light which interacts with the non-linear crystal source to produce entangled single photons at a high rate.

Credit: NASA

A Michelson interferometer.

Credit: NASA

s ACCESS project has opened a quantum communications lab for investigating forms of quantum entangled communications. The initial lab capability consists of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) systems for performing quantum entanglement investigations at 800 nanometer and 1550 nanometer wavelengths. There is also capability for assembling quantum communications experiments from discrete components for protocols such as optical angular momentum communications.

Credit: NASA

Image of a novel system of coupled quantum dots taken with a scanning tunneling microscope shows electrons orbiting within two concentric sets of closely spaced rings, separated by a gap. The inner set of rings represents one quantum dot the outer, brighter set represents a larger, outer quantum dot.

Credit: NIST

A colorized lattice of tornado-like vortices within a spinning Bose Einstein condensate of rubidium atoms. Formed in an ultrahigh vacuum at temperatures of only a few hundred billionths of degree above absolute zero, such condensates are a new tool for studying quantum mechanics.

Credit: NIST

JILAs three-dimensional (3-D) quantum gas atomic clock consists of a grid of light formed by three pairs of laser beams. A stack of two tables is used to configure optical components around a vacuum chamber. Shown here is the upper table, where lenses and other optics are mounted. A blue laser beam excites a cube-shaped cloud of strontium atoms located behind the round window in the middle of the table. Strontium atoms fluorescence strongly when excited with blue light.

Credit: G.E. Marti/JILA

Voltage divider for the quantum watt

Credit: Waltrip/NIST

Researchers have demonstrated a new way for atomic ions to host disturbances that do not fade away.

Credit: E. Edwards/JQI

JILAs gold-plated ion trap for measuring the electrons roundness, or electric dipole moment (EDM). The six fins in the foreground are electrodes attached to the traps lower endcap. When assembled, the trap is placed in a vacuum chamber and the electrodes are charged with up to 100 volts to confine hafnium fluoride ions (charged molecules). Researchers rotate electric and magnetic fields fast enough to trap the molecular ions but slowly enough for the ions to line up with the electric field. The ions then rotate individually while scientists measure their properties. The EDM is the difference between two magnetic energy levels.

Credit: JILA

JILAs strontium optical atomic clock was made possible by the frequency comb.

Credit: The Ye group and Brad Baxley, JILA

Artist's impression of a dark soliton, the dip in the center, surrounded by clouds of white impurity atoms.

Credit: E. Edwards/JQI

A gold-on-alumina trap inside a case that protects against electrical interference.

Credit: Blakestad/NIST

The heart of NISTs next-generation miniature atomic clock — ticking at high optical frequencies — is this vapor cell on a chip, shown next to a coffee bean for scale.

Credit: Hummon/NIST

Quantum sensors for the Atacama Cosmology Telescope

Credit: D. Schmidt/NIST

The NIST-4 Kibble balance.

Credit: J. Lee/NIST

Artist's impression of JILA's record-cold quantum gas of potassium-rubidium molecules.

Credit: Steven Burrows/JILA

Measuring photon correlations from quantum dots within a photonic crystal waveguide.

Credit: Chul Soo Kim and Joel Grim/NRL

Quantum Dot Wave Function

Credit: Wei Qiao, David Ebert, Marek Korkusinski, Gerhard Klimeck Network for Computational Nanotechnology, Purdue University

Spin Waves excited and detected in quantum Hall ferromagnet

Credit: Second Bay Studios/Harvard SEAS

Light-controlled Higgs modes found in superconductors

Credit: Jigang Wang, Iowa State University

Diamond defects detect and measure magnetic fields

Credit: Image courtesy of Peter and Ryan Allen/Harvard University

"Walking in Color"

Credit: Daniel M. Harris and John W.M. Bush

"Bose fireworks", emission of jets of atoms from a Bose-Einstein condensate, occurs when a fast oscillating magnetic field applies to the condensate. The magnetic field serves to controls the atomic interactions and the oscillating field excites atoms, which escape the condensate in all directions forming thin, needle-like jets. The image comprises of 5 atomic samples taken after 6, 10, 15, 19, 24 ms of modulation (left to right) and independently colored. The condensates employed in this experiment consist of 10,000 cesium atoms cooled to 10 nano-Kelvin temperature.

Credit: No Credit

Topological magnet exhibits exotic quantum effects

Credit: M. Zahid Hasan, Jia-Xin Yin, Princeton University

A "turtle pattern", hidden in the emission of Bose fireworks, is uncovered by an unsupervised pattern recognition algorithm applying to 206 independent experimental images. The pattern demonstrates the intricate mixings and interferences of quantum waves of atoms. The "turtle" consistes of the center dot (Bose-Einstein condesate), the circular shell (primary emission), the 4 legs (secondary emissions at low energy), and the head and the tail (secondary emissions at high energy).

Credit: No Credit

Quantum entanglement

Credit: Nicolle R. Fuller/ National Science Foundation

NSF funds graduate student training program QISE-Net

Credit: David Awschalom, University of Chicago

Tubes filled with quantum dots

Credit: Photo by Christa Neu Lehigh University Communications and Public Affairs

Researchers at the Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Hybrid Quantum Architectures and Networks (QLCIHQAN) are pioneering modular approaches to quantum computing. By connecting together different qubits—including atoms, superconductors, and light—HQAN is developing new approaches to scaling up quantum computing and new applications for quantum networks. Credit line: Emily Edwards, IQUIST, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Credit: No Credit

Computer scientists in the new National Science Foundation Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation. The institute, launched in September 2021 with a $25M NSF award, is focused on developing quantum simulation devices that can understand, and thereby exploit, the rich behavior of complex quantum systems.

Credit: Photo by John T. Consoli / University of Maryland

Atomic ions, held in place by devices like the blade trap above, are one of the most promising experimental platforms for performing quantum simulations.

Credit: S. Debnath and E. Edwards/JQI

Lasers are a mainstay of experimental quantum information science research, useful for studying the fundamentals of quantum light and for more applied tasks like cooling, trapping and manipulating atoms. Photo credit: J. Consoli/UMD

Credit: No Credit

Theoretical physicists with the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation. Their research involves simulating complex systems in nature arising from the most fundamental particles and interactions underlying them, or their effective descriptions.

Credit: Photo by John T. Consoli / University of Maryland

Theoretical physicists in the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation combine quantum information theory with thermodynamics, advancing new discoveries under a genre referred to as quantum steampunk.

Credit: Photo by John T. Consoli / University of Maryland

A computer scientist with the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation studies quantum error correction, fault-tolerant quantum computation, quantum cryptography and quantum complexity.

Credit: Photo by John T. Consoli / University of Maryland