In the News
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UChicago launches landmark initiative with IonQ to advance quantum research and collaboration
From the University of Chicago: Q-NEXT collaborating institutions University of Chicago and IonQ are partnering on a new initiative to advance quantum science and engineering. The initiative will support faculty, postdoctoral and student researchers at the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering; establish a sponsored research program between UChicago and IonQ; and supports the construction of a world-class science and engineering building at UChicago. Read More
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Leading quantum at an inflection point
From MIT: Danna Freedman is the faculty director of the nascent MIT Quantum Initiative, or QMIT. In this new role, Freedman is giving shape to an ambitious effort to apply quantum breakthroughs to the most consequential challenges in science, technology, industry and national security. Read More
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Mark Saffman awarded 2026 APS Ramsey Prize
From the University of Wisconsin–Madison: Mark Saffman wins the Ramsey Prize “for seminal developments of quantum information processing with neutral atoms that allow the investigation of many-body problems that are intractable by classical computing.” Read More
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IBM collaborates across four national quantum innovation centers to help drive the future of quantum-centric supercomputing
From IBM: IBM is a partner with four Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Centers, collaborating with each — including Q-NEXT — on technologies that that will advance quantum communication, computing hardware and software. Read More
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Gamers wanted: Illinois researchers seeking participants for at-home quantum research
From the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: On the first anniversary of the launch of their SEAQUE mission — which aims to validate methods for creating entanglement and mitigating the damaging effects of space radiation — Paul Kwiat and team release the Quantum Satellite, a web-based video game that allows users to pilot a high-speed starship through cosmic challenges while making choices that influence real-world quantum research. Read More
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Common crystal proves ideal for low-temperature light technology
From Stanford University: Strontium titanate’s impressive performance at extremely low temperatures positions it as a key material for advanced cryogenic devices in quantum computing and space exploration. An illustration of strontium titanate crystals at cryogenic chill. Read More
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Faculty wins DARPA award for quantum computing breakthrough
Chris Anderson of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has earned a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Young Faculty Award for his research on strontium titanate optical modulators. Read More
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Entangling ideas into tomorrow’s quantum networks
From the University of Chicago: UChicago doctoral student Alex Kolar is working on the experimental realization of an efficient quantum memory for entanglement proposed by his advisor, Tian Zhong. Read More
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Tian Zhong receives the 2025 Sturge Prize
From the University of Chicago: Tian Zhong is honored for his seminal contributions to the field of solid-state quantum nanophotonics. Read More
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Using Grover's algorithm to efficiently prepare collective quantum states in optical cavities
From Phys.org: Mark Saffman and Omar Nagib at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, along with K. Mølmer at the University of Copenhagen, introduce a new strategy to prepare multipartite entangled states, called Dicke and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states, in an optical cavity. Their approach relies on Grover's search algorithm. Read More
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David Awschalom wins global Breakthrough of the Year award
David Awschalom, Q-NEXT Chief Science Officer and the Liew Family Professor of Quantum Engineering and Physics at the University of Chicago, received the prestigious Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year in Physical Sciences for a pioneering body of work that broke the wall between quantum technology, molecules, and proteins. Read More
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Helium lifts new quantum computing concept
A team led by Jacob Covey, who is part of Q-NEXT and is an Associate Professor at the University of Chicago, laid out a new concept that could turn helium’s light weight into the next generation of quantum computers. The design relies on helium-3, an isotope with different quantum properties than the helium-4 used to cool MRI machines and fill party balloons. Once built, the computer could use high-powered lasers as “optical tweezers” to capture and control individual atoms of helium. Read More
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Researchers make materials that support quantum technology
Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who are part of Q-NEXT are engineering material systems that support quantum technology. Chris Anderson and his team are developing materials for quantum transduction — the conversion of quantum information from one form to another. Elizabeth Goldschmidt, Daniel Shoemaker, and colleagues are developing quantum memory technology that stores quantum information for extended periods of time. Read More
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Silicon Chip Offers New Way to Probe Quantum Materials in Strong Magnetic Fields
Scientists have created a silicon chip that can detect the electrical behavior of very small materials by using very high-frequency waves. The chip is made only from silicon and other non-superconducting materials and still performs very well when cooled from room temperature down to about 4 Kelvin. Read More
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Making quantum bits ready to use again much sooner
Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Intel have found that a simple electrical pulse can quickly push a quantum dot qubit out of a latched state and return it to its starting condition with very high reliability. Read More
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Q-NEXT-developed open-source software receives 2026 R&D 100 award
SeQUeNCe, a free, open-source software developed by Argonne scientists with Q-NEXT support, is one of seven Argonne projects that received a 2026 R&D 100 Award. The SeQUeNCe software lets researchers test how quantum networks might work before building them. Read More
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Researchers generate spontaneous magnons that synchronize with external signals
Researchers at Argonne and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign demonstrate a method for generating stable ripples in magnetic materials called magnons. The work opens avenues for information processing in microelectronics and quantum devices. Read More
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Uncovering the hidden disorder in silicon quantum computers
From the U.S. Department of Energy: Q-NEXT researchers map the variation in materials to the atom level to scale up silicon qubits Read More
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Color centers in high-purity diamond
Researchers mapped how electron irradiation makes defects inside diamond, finding that creating more vacancies does not always produce more NV centers. Too many vacancies can form unwanted defects. This result can inform advances in quantum sensing. Read More
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Containing multitudes: SLAC scientist collaborates to create scalable qubits
At SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Q-NEXT collaborator Shannon Harvey develops quantum dots — a mass-producible type of qubit. Driven by curiosity about nature and how things work, Harvey draws on her facility for working at the nanoscale. Read More