Overview.  This grant created a Focused Research Hub in Theoretical Physics (FRHTP)  within the Center for Quantum Information and Control (CQuIC) at the University of New Mexico (UNM), focused on the subject of Quantum Information Science (QIS).    QIS is an interdisciplinary subject that studies how the unique aspects of quantum physics at the atomic scale can be use to process information at the macroscopic scale.  Thus has applications in advanced computing, communication, and sensing). The central goals of the FRHTP were to advance cutting-edge theory in QIS and to enhance the professional development of early-career scientists in QIS.  The cornerstone of this project was a prize postdoctoral fellowship.  Postdoctoral fellows added new intellectual energy to CQuIC, creating synergy to enable advances that could not occur through the activities of the individual senior participants alone. The FRHTP at CQuIC served as a hub for the community in theoretical QIS, developing resources that accelerated research and education at UNM as well as nationally. We achieved this through a variety of hub activities that brought together the community to interact, create, and tackle critical problems, and integrate this with education, training, and shared educational resources to help develop the next generation of quantum information scientists.  Hub activities included hosting visitors, seminars, schools, and workshops (particularly the long-running SQuInT Annual Workshop), and creating outreach programs that focus on building diversity and inclusion of traditionally underrepresented groups in QIS.  The senior participants were divided into the Project Directors (PDs) who organized and lead the Hub and additional Senior Collaborating Participants from UNM and other partnering institutions, including national laboratories in New Mexico, Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.  

Intellectual merit.  A core goal of the FRHTP was to advance knowledge in theoretical QIS by providing value added that enabled CQuIC to address the most pressing and challenging problems of the field.  Research was driven by CQuIC postdoctoral fellows funded by this grant.   Outcome were published is high-impact peer-reviewed journals, and at professional conferences and workshops.  A sample of the key finding and explorations include:  

• Reliability of analog quantum simulation:  In the era of Noisy-Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices, digitized error correction is not possible.  We found important relationship sbetween computational complexity and sensitivity to imperfections, including quantum chaos, and other dynamical instabilities.  
• Quantum sensing:  Nonclassical properties of light and matter can be used ad precision sensors that enable measurements beyond the standard limits of noise.  We established the foundational understanding of “quantum illumination,” whereby nonclassical light is used for the task of radar (target detection in the atmosphere). We analyzed the performance of this protocol and explained the fundamental mechanism for the known quantum advantage.
• Charactering quantum performance: Deducing the performance of quantum information processors is challenging because measurement of a quantum system disturbs the system.  We showed how one can optimally tomographically reconstruct the state of qubit given an ensemble of identically prepared copies.  These results also give fundamental new insight how to create optimal measurement and reconstruction protocols for other quantum devices.

Broader Impacts. The FRHTP at CQuIC created a nucleus, drawing together the broad QIS theory community in a hub for hosting short and long-term visitors, workshops, conferences, and postdoctoral fellows.  CQuIC broadly impacted the community through its flagship organization of the Southwest Quantum Information and Technology (SQuInT) Annual Workshop, a world-class interdisciplinary QIS conference friendly to students, postdocs, and other early-career researchers.  Additional broader impact is in education.  The FRHTP placed high priority on recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities (URMs) to participate in building a diverse and inclusive group of QIS theorists.  We worked locally, leveraging the resources of UNM, an R1 Minority-Serving Institution, to help create a pipeline of traditionally URMs in QIS who can attain graduate degrees and contribute to the QIS ecosystem.  This was accomplished in collaboration with QU-REACH, a ten-week summer undergraduate research program targeting historically-excluded groups in STEM (including women, Hispanic, American Indian, and Black students) and students who are the first generation in their families to attend college.  We also refined each step of our recruitment and selection of postdoctoral fellows, to strengthen diversity at CQuIC.

Last Modified: 12/20/2022
Modified by: Ivan H Deutsch