In the News
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Building a quantum powerhouse in the US Midwest
From the Physics World podcast: Q-NEXT Director David Awschalom and Intersect Illinois Chief Quantum Officer Preeti Chalsani talk about how Illinois is establishing itself as a burgeoning hub for quantum innovation, along with neighboring regions in Wisconsin and Indiana. Read More
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Using sound to remember quantum information
From Caltech: Mohammad Mirhosseini of Caltech and team develop a hybrid quantum memory that stores quantum states from superconducting qubits as sound, extending storage times up to 30 times longer than existing methods. Read More
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Danna Freedman to lead Quantum@MIT
From MIT: Freedman's lab focuses on designing and synthesizing molecules and materials to create quantum properties and behaviors of value to the world around us. Read More
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UChicago Pritzker Molecular Engineering Dean receives 2025 Richtmyer Award
From the University of Chicago: The American Association of Physics Teachers has awarded UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering Dean Nadya the 2025 Richtmyer Memorial Lecture Award, which “recognizes those who have made outstanding contributions to physics and their communication to physics educators.” Read More
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At Capitol Hill briefing, experts and officials say investment in quantum critical to future
From the University of Chicago: The University of Chicago convenes leaders from research, government and industry to underscore technology’s ‘transformative’ possibilities. Read More
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Researchers zero in on a new material for quantum information storage
From Argonne National Laboratory: Research from Argonne and the University of Chicago points to a previously unidentified trait in magnesium oxide that could lend itself to use in quantum systems. Read More
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Neutral-atom qubits with Mark Saffman
From The New Quantum Era podcast: University of Wisconsin–Madison Professor Infleqtion Chief Scientist Mark Saffman develops neutral-atom quantum computing platforms using Rydberg atom arrays. He explores the past, present and future of neutral atom quantum computing, its scalability, technological challenges, and opportunities for hybrid quantum systems. Read More
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The world’s top 10 institutions for quantum physics
From Nature Index: The University of Chicago and MIT, two Q-NEXT partners, are among Nature Index's top 10 institutions in the world for quantum physics. Read More
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A new architecture for quantum RAM
From University of Chicago: University of Chicago’s Andrew Cleland, Liang Jiang and team propose a novel architecture for providing lightning-fast data access to already lightning-fast quantum computers — by routing individual "particles" of sound. Read More
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Meet the Winner of the 2026 ACS Photonics Young Investigator Lectureship Award
From ACS Axial: University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Mikhail Kats, the recipient of the 2026 ACS Photonics Young Investigator Award, talks about his work studying materials’ optical properties, his career, and the future of nanomaterials. Read More
News and features
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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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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