Researcher gets major U.S. grant to pursue multi-qubit systems

Monday, May 31, 2010

Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) faculty member Frank Wilhelm has been awarded a grant of $145,000 per year over five years to support advanced quantum computing research.

Frank Wilhelm
The funding, conferred by the U.S.-based Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), will allow Wilhelm to acquire the personnel and resources to investigate integrated circuits for quantum computing.

A qubit (or quantum bit) is the building block of information for a quantum computer. The qubits that Wilhelm and collaborators will investigate, unlike the typical subatomic implementations of quantum computing, are microfabricated electronic elements offering superior design opportunities.

So far, quantum computing research has largely focused on systems using one qubit or a small collection of qubits.

The goal of IARPA’s Multi-Qubit Coherent Operations funding program is to foster advances that will result in quantum systems that use ever-increasing numbers of qubits.

This “scalability” of quantum information processors will be essential in the creation of the world’s first generation of practical quantum computers.

“We want to take these technologies to the next level,” said Wilhelm, a theorist who joined IQC in 2006.

Wilhelm will work alongside project lead John Martinis of the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as collaborators from the University of Wisconsin, University of Georgia and University of California Riverside.

Founded in 2002, the mission of the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) is to aggressively explore and advance the application of quantum mechanical systems to a vast array of relevant information processing techniques.

A part of the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont., Canada, IQC creates a truly unique environment fostering cutting-edge research and collaboration between researchers in the areas of computer, engineering, mathematical and physical sciences.

At the time of this release, IQC has 17 faculty members, 22 postdoctoral fellows and over 55 students and research assistants, as well as a support staff of 18.

The Institute for Quantum Computing acknowledges the support of the Government of Canada through Industry Canada and the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Research and Innovation.