PsiQuantum today announced a $10.8M contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in Rome, N.Y., continuing a partnership that began in 2022. This phase will give AFRL a design space for comparative quantum circuits on PsiQuantum’s circuit tapeout, part of its ongoing Omega quantum chipset manufacturing with GlobalFoundries. As AFRL’s hardware design partner, PsiQuantum will supply its high-performance Barium Titanate (BTO) Electro-Optic phase shifters and integrate BTO into AFRL-designed optical circuits. PsiQuantum’s 300mm BTO material is believed to be the world’s highest-performing electro-switch material. The company will also provide essential quantum circuit components. Once designed, constructed, and screened for performance, the company will deliver these completed chips to AFRL, who will then validate their capabilities to address other Air Force use cases.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is announcing a Funding Opportunity of $625 million available to support National Quantum Information Science Research Centers to accelerate the transformational advances needed in Quantum Information Science.

the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $71 million in funding for 25 projects in high energy physics that will use the emerging technologies of quantum information science to answer fundamental questions about the universe.

In new work, using a superconducting qubit called fluxonium, MIT researchers in the Department of Physics, the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) developed two new control techniques to achieve a world-record single-qubit fidelity of 99.998 percent. This result complements then-MIT researcher Leon Ding’s demonstration last year of a 99.92 percent two-qubit gate fidelity.

IonQ, a leader in the quantum computing and networking industries, today announced a landmark partnership with the University of Maryland and the State of Maryland with the aim to establish Maryland as the “silicon valley” of the quantum computing industry. The proposed initiative will aim to fuel the growing quantum economy of the U.S. capitol region, provide access to IonQ’s cutting-edge quantum technology, and dramatically strengthen Maryland’s workforce with new quantum-focused jobs.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory joined forces with EPB of Chattanooga and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to demonstrate the first transmission of an entangled quantum signal using multiple wavelength channels and automatic polarization stabilization over a commercial network with no downtime.

A research team at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory created a novel advanced microscopy tool to “write” with atoms, placing those atoms exactly where they are needed to give a material new properties.

The U.S. National Science Foundation is investing $39 million to help grow quantum research activities at more institutions across America through the NSF Expanding Capacity in Quantum Information Science and Engineering (ExpandQISE) program. This investment will fund 23 research projects aiming to break new ground in fields such as quantum computing, sensors and materials.

Realizing practical advantages and societal benefits from quantum-scale phenomena has been a long-sought milestone in quantum information science. The U.S. National Science Foundation today announced the initial $5 million investment across five pilot projects designed to help reach that milestone by taking the first steps toward creating the NSF National Quantum Virtual Laboratory (NQVL), a first-of-its-kind national resource to enable faster discovery and development of use-inspired quantum technologies.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) today introduced legislation to advance the United States’ capacity to invest in quantum information science and research and development (R&D) through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). As R&D advances quantum science, engineering, and technology, the DOE Quantum Leadership Act of 2024 would reinvigorate R&D projects at DOE by authorizing $2.5 billion in funding over the next five years—well above the $625 million for DOE-related programs laid out in the now-expired National Quantum Initiative Act of 2018. The DOE Quantum Leadership Act would also provide DOE the authority to expand its current quantum R&D initiatives.