NSF-BSF: Squeezing the Optical Frequency Comb: Applications to Quantum Computing and Quantum Measurement

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Quantum computing is a powerful concept with revolutionary scientific discovery potential. Computing with quantum bits, known as "qubits," as initially envisioned by Richard Feynman, would allow physicists to solve problems traditionally far out of reach, such as the ab initio design of new materials (e.g. room-temperature superconductors), new chemical reactions (for fertilizer production, or for carbon sequestration), and new drugs (for medicine) based on the principles of quantum physics. Two fundamental requirements for building a practical and useful quantum computer are: (i), access to a large number of individually addressable qubits and, (ii), the ability to eschew qubit errors and, if not, to correct them. This project will address both of these requirements by exploring new ways to use quantum states of light to encode information. This approach will train students to develop optics and photonics technologies. It will also promote fundamental scientific collaborations via the NSF-BSF program. The aim of this project is the implementation of a quantum processor using a multitude of laser beams with different frequencies called "qumodes" that are specifically engineered to display the quantum correlations, or entanglement, needed to run quantum algorithms. The quantum optics group at the University of Virginia has been pioneering such an approach and has obtained a record number of entangled qumodes. This project will promote a collaboration with Bar-Ilan University that will expand the scope of this research by developing a novel detection method for qumodes. This collaboration will also address quantum error correction by using quantum optics to develop new detection techniques that are resilient to optical losses and noise.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.