RAISE-TAQS: Room-Temperature Quantum Sensing and Computation using DNA-based Excitonic Circuits

摩尔定律，即硅基集成电路和个人计算设备中的晶体管数量大约每年翻一番的著名观察结果，已经结束。未来十年的一个主要挑战是确定传统的基于硅的计算的可行替代方案。为了满足生活中几乎所有领域日益增长的全球计算需求，需要这样的替代方案。量子信息处理器可能是满足这一需求的一种可行的选择。通过利用量子力学现象，量子计算机的计算能力可能会超过传统的硅基集成电路几个数量级。然而，到目前为止，量子信息处理需要在高度隔离和受保护的环境中在超低温下运行。目前还没有可行的量子信息处理平台可以在室温或潮湿条件下工作。如果它们确实存在，这样的量子系统可以用于量子增强传感等任务。在这个项目中，结构化DNA电路被用来构建基于量子的处理和传感设备，这些设备在室温和液态下运行。基于DNA的量子传感和信号处理设备的基本原理正在建立中，并应用于实际的量子信息处理挑战，以证明这一革命性方法的可行性，以满足不同的社会计算需求。一个由化学、生物工程、材料科学和电气工程的研究人员组成的跨学科团队将追求这种向室温信息处理器转变的方法，并培训下一代跨学科量子计算机科学家和工程师经典基于硅的计算已经达到了它的极限，无法解决不同应用领域中日益复杂的、资源密集型的计算挑战。相比之下，基于量子的系统通过利用量子力学现象，在模拟、传感、计算和计量方面实现了无数变革性的技术进步。通过量子力学独特的物理学，量子系统处理或交换信息可以超越经典计算架构，并以前所未有的灵敏度测量环境变量。然而，量子系统在不同应用领域的部署一直受到量子态对始终存在的噪声热浴的脆弱性的阻碍，从而将当前量子设备的操作限制在低温下。为此，需要对新的量子信息处理和传感结构进行基础研究，特别是在室温和生物医学应用中部署设备。在这里，基于生物分子材料的受控激子态，开发了新的量子电路。高度可编程的DNA纳米结构的结构控制和单分子可寻址能力与合成染料一起被用作量子相干激子系统的工程平台。使用基于DNA的支架控制不同激子状态的位置和能量，使量子比特能够集成到更高阶电路中，从而创建多量子比特系统和设备。利用紧密耦合的理论和实验，设计和评价了量子比特的浮现函数。新型、高冲击室温量子传感和信息处理设备被制造和表征，具有集成到原型下一代量子技术的潜力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Moore's Law, the well-known observation that the number of transistors in silicon-based integrated circuits and personal computing devices doubles approximately every year, has ended. A major challenge for the next decade is to identify viable alternatives to traditional, silicon-based computing. Such alternatives are needed to meet the ever-increasing worldwide computational demands in almost all areas of life. Quantum information processors may be one viable alternative to meet this demand. By taking advantage of quantum mechanical phenomena, the computational power of quantum computers may exceed by orders of magnitude that of conventional, silicon-based integrated circuits. However, to date quantum information processing is required to operate at ultra-cold temperatures in highly isolated and protected environments. No viable quantum information processing platform exists that functions at room temperature or in wet condition. If they did exist, such quantum systems could be used for tasks such as quantum-enhanced sensing. In this project, structured DNA circuits are used to construct quantum-based processing and sensing devices that operate at room temperature and in the liquid state. Foundational principles of DNA-based quantum sensing and signal processing devices are being established and applied to practical quantum information processing challenges to demonstrate viability of this revolutionary approach to address diverse societal computing needs. An interdisciplinary team of investigators from chemistry, biological engineering and materials science, and electrical engineering will pursue this transformative approach towards room-temperature information processors, and train the next-generation of interdisciplinary quantum computer scientists and engineers Classical silicon-based computing has reached its limit for solving increasingly complex, resource-intensive computational challenges in diverse application areas. In contrast, quantum-based systems enable a myriad of possibilities for transformative technological advances in simulation, sensing, computation, and metrology by harnessing quantum mechanical phenomena. Through the unique physics of quantum mechanics, quantum systems process or exchange information that can surpass classical computing architectures and measure environmental variables with unprecedented sensitivity. However, deployment of quantum systems to diverse application arenas has been encumbered by the fragility of quantum states to the ever-present noisy thermal bath, thereby limiting the operation of current quantum devices to cryogenic temperatures. For this reason, fundamental investigations into new quantum information processing and sensing architectures are needed, particularly for the deployment of devices for room-temperature and biomedical applications. Here, novel quantum circuits are developed based on controlled excitonic states of biomolecular materials. The structural control and single-molecule addressability of highly programmable DNA nanostructures are leveraged together with synthetic dyes as an engineering platform for quantum-coherent excitonic systems. Controlling the positions and energies of distinct excitonic states using DNA-based scaffolds enables the integration of qubits into higher-order circuits to create multi-qubit systems and devices. Closely coupled theory and experiment are used to design and evaluate emergent qubit function. Novel, high-impact room-temperature quantum sensing and information processing devices are fabricated and characterized, with potential for integration into prototypical next-generation quantum technologies.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.