Joint Quantum Institute Created by University of Maryland, NIST and NSA

Shown here is an artist's depiction of a proposal by physicist Bruce Kane of the University of Maryland, for a quantum computer based on the nuclear spin of phosphorus atoms. The quantum properties of superposition and entanglement may someday permit quantum computers to perform certain types of computations much more quickly using less power than is possible with conventional charge-based devices."

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Today, the University of Maryland (UM), the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the National Security Agency (NSA) announced the creation of a joint research institute designed to advance quantum physics research - deciphering the secrets of nature at the submicroscopic scale - and to exploit this knowledge to transform quantum technology from an exciting promise to practical reality.

A memorandum of understanding establishing the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) has been signed by C.D. Mote Jr., president of the university; William Jeffrey, director of NIST; and Frederick R. Chang, director of research for the NSA.

"The world is on the verge of a new technological revolution as the strange, atomic-scale properties of quantum physics become relevant and exploitable for human-scale information science and technology," said President Mote of the University of Maryland. "Each of these institutions already leads key aspects of quantum-related research. By combining these great strengths, the new Joint Quantum Institute promises to push quantum prototypes from their current primitive, 'first transistor' stage into quantum technology reality."

The institute will be located on the University of Maryland campus in College Park. It will have an annual budget of approximately $6 million and a staff of about 20 scientists, half from the university and half from NIST. The staff will include experts in atomic physics, condensed matter and quantum information, including William D. Phillips, the 1997 Nobel laureate in physics, who is both a NIST Fellow and a Distinguished University Professor of Physics at Maryland. Co-directors for the institute are Christopher J. Lobb, professor of physics at Maryland, and Carl J. Williams, chief of the NIST Atomic Physics Division.

The three participating institutions have a shared history of collaboration and cooperation in education, research and public service. They have long cooperated in building collaborative research consortia and programs that have resulted in extensive personal, professional and institutional relationships.

For the University of Maryland and NIST, the new institute is the latest of several major new collaborative efforts initiated since the two institutions signed an agreement in 2003 to broadly expand research collaborations and professional linkages. Last year the two institutions created the UM-NIST Center for Nanomanufacturing and Metrology, a joint venture created to advance the science and technology of manufacturing products based on the unique properties achieved at the scale of a nanometer (one billionth of a meter).

The objectives of the new Joint Quantum Institute will be to:

* Develop a world-class research institute that will build the scientific foundation for understanding coherent quantum phenomena and thereby lay the foundation for engineering and controlling complex quantum systems capable of using the coherence and entanglement of quantum mechanics (see related backgrounder for definitions and details);

* Maintain and enhance the nation's leading role in high technology through the creation of a powerful collaboration among NIST, UM and NSA; and

* Establish a unique, interdisciplinary center for the interchange of ideas among atomic physics, condensed matter and quantum information scientists.

In pursuing these objectives, the JQI is expected to train scientists and engineers for future industrial opportunities and provide U.S. industry with cutting-edge research results.

The JQI's three primary scientific disciplines are: atomic, molecular and optical physics (such as ultra-cold atomic gases, matter wave optics, quantum optics and optical lattices), a major area of expertise at NIST and a growing strength at UM; condensed matter physics (such as quantum dots and superconductivity), an area of expertise at UM and the NSA's Laboratory for Physical Sciences; and quantum information science (such as quantum measurement theory, quantum computation and quantum communication), areas of expertise at both NIST and UM. The NSA is a long-standing supporter of and collaborator in research in these fields.

Among its benefits, the JQI is expected to leverage the combination of a government laboratory's emphasis on developing practical metrology tools directed at national needs with an academic focus on scientific exploration. From NIST's perspective, the new institute is modeled in part on JILA, a joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Since its founding in the 1960s, JILA has become one of the nation's leading research institutes in the physical sciences, with a faculty that includes three Nobel laureates (two from NIST) and two MacArthur Fellows (one from NIST).

As a non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.

Cavity Quantum Electrodynamic (QED) system inside a glass cell under high vacuum where cold atoms are trapped just above the mirrors and let fall crossing a laser beam between the two mirrors. The transmitted light has its quantum properties changed, it can be quieter than a laser. The coils visible generate a magnetic field necessary for trapping and cooling the atoms.

The University of Maryland (UM) has one of the nation's leading university physics departments with particular strengths in the areas relevant to quantum technology research. The Physics Department of the University of Maryland was ranked 15th among all universities in 2006 by U.S. News and World Report and was the only university to be ranked in the top 10 in quantum physics, condensed matter/solid state physics and atomic, molecular and optical physics, the three key fields of this new joint institute.

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