QuSeC-TAQS: Distributed Entanglement Quantum Sensing of Atmospheric and Aerosol Chemistries

该项目解决了社会面临的一个紧迫挑战——如何跟踪和应对快速变化的气候。目标是开发和演示一个量子传感平台，该平台具有一个原位分布式传感器网络，用于测量和理解大气化学和气候变量。在最基本的层面上，纠缠量子网络能够以比单独探测每个系统的总和更高的精度感知多个地理上和局部不同的系统。因此，纠缠网络可以阐明分布节点上探针之间的非经典相关性。将传感的物理极限扩展到在热力学和量子噪声极限下测量和分析来自环境的复杂数据集，有助于社会福祉和公众健康。该团队汇集了量子科学与工程、电子与计算机工程、大气与地球科学、化学与生物化学以及应用数学等专业知识。这一努力与美国《芯片与科学法案》的推出以及美国在量子技术方面的竞争力相一致。大气和地球科学家将利用该项目的新量子测量技术来解决关键的测量挑战：不同的测量环境，光谱中更好的时间分辨率，通过分布式纠缠提高灵敏度，和/或测量瞬态物种的能力。一个重大的社会影响将是在公共卫生决策方面，基于新启用的大气化学测量和实时分析，具有前所未有的时空分辨率，提供有关地点的可操作信息，例如，通过一个全面的纠缠量子传感器网络实时实现预防呼吸道疾病。加州大学洛杉矶分校有望在2025年成为一所西班牙裔服务机构（HSI），这一努力将培养一支高素质、多样化的劳动力队伍，建立在非传统教育项目的基础上，包括加州桥和物理桥，为加州州立大学校园中历史上代表性不足的群体创造机会。加州大学洛杉矶分校女子工程学院WE@UCLA技术学院将与大气化学和地球科学领域的工业界、初创公司和非学术利益相关者合作，围绕该项目的技术，引入量子传感和编程。量子传感是一个强大的范例，它包括使用非经典的光和物质状态来探测感兴趣的物种。与经典探针相比，计量学中的非经典光态，包括频率复用的高维纠缠光子和跨分布式网络的压缩光，表现出未知的传感能力。该项目包括两个跨学科和协同的重点：1。量子网络传感器系统，涉及传感器数据融合和量子传感器上的多模态学习，以及在标准量子极限（SQL）和超越标准量子极限（SQL）的遥感中分布式纠缠辅助高维精密相位计量。这种努力与推力相辅相成。研究了用于分子指纹识别的量子传感器阵列，包括高光谱双梳光谱和超过标准量子极限的稳定，以及Schawlow-Townes极限的分子双梳光谱和量子限制太赫兹光谱仪。与更广泛的量子传感社区相关，该项目将展示量子计量的分布式纠缠，以实现低于sql的生化灵敏度，包括双光子和多部分时频纠缠源，在每个传感路径中存在噪声和信道损失。该团队将重点关注那些难以测量的化学物质，包括N、S和C的还原和氧化形式，以及NH3、NOx和自由基化学物质。此外，该团队利用并推进了实时分析和量子传感器数据融合的数学。该项目由量子传感器挑战赛（QuSeC-TAQS）项目和美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project addresses a pressing challenge for society - how to track and to respond to a rapidly changing climate. The goal is to develop and demonstrate a quantum sensing platform that features an in situ distributed sensor network to measure and understand atmospheric chemistries and climate variables. At its most fundamental level, an entangled quantum network is capable of sensing multiple geographically and locally distinct systems with higher precision than the summation of each system probed individually. Entangled networks can thus elucidate non-classical correlations between probes over distributed nodes. Extending the physical limits of sensing to measure and analyze complex datasets from the environment at the thermodynamic and quantum noise limits can aid with societal well-being and public health. The convergent expertise of the team assembled brings together quantum science & engineering, electrical & computer engineering, atmospheric & geosciences, chemistry & biochemistry, and applied mathematics. This effort is aligned with the launch of the US CHIPS and Science Act, and for US competitiveness in quantum technologies. Atmospheric and geoscientists will leverage new quantum measurement technologies from this project to address key measurement challenges: varied measured environments, better time resolution in spectroscopy, higher sensitivity through distributed entanglement, and/or the ability to measure transient species. A major societal impact will be in public health decision-making, based on newly enabled measurements and real-time analyses of atmospheric chemistries with unprecedented spatial-temporal resolution, providing actionable information on locality, e.g., to prevent respiratory illness, enabled in real-time by a comprehensive entangled network of quantum sensors. With UCLA on track to become an Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) by 2025, this effort develops a highly qualified, diverse workforce, building on a track-record of non-traditional education programs, including the Cal-Bridge and Physics Bridge, creating opportunities for historically underrepresented groups at Cal State campuses. UCLA Women in Engineering WE@UCLA Technical Academies will introduce quantum sensing with programming around this program’s technologies resulting, in collaboration with industry, startups, and non-academic stakeholders in atmospheric chemistry and geosciences.Quantum sensing is a powerful paradigm that encompasses the use of non-classical states of light and matter to probe species of interest. Compared to classical probes, non-classical states of light in metrology, including frequency-multiplexed high-dimensional entangled photons and squeezed light across distributed networks, exhibit uncharted sensing capabilities. This project comprises two interdisciplinary and synergistic Thrusts: 1. quantum-enabled networked sensor systems, involving sensor data fusion and multimodal learning on quantum sensors, and distributed entanglement-assisted high-dimensional precision phase metrology in remote sensing at and beyond the standard quantum limit (SQL). This effort is complemented with thrust 2. on quantum sensor arrays for molecular fingerprinting, involving hyperspectral dual-comb spectroscopy and stabilization beyond the standard quantum limit, and molecular dual-comb spectroscopy at the Schawlow-Townes limits and a quantum-limited THz spectrometer. Relevant to the broader quantum sensing community, the program will demonstrate distributed entanglement for quantum metrology towards below-SQL biochemical sensitivities, including biphoton and multi-partite time-frequency entanglement sources, in the presence of noise and channel losses in each sensing pathway. The team focus will be on chemical species that are challenging to measure, including reduced and oxidized forms of N, S, and C, as well as NH3, NOx, and free radical chemistries. Further, the team leverages and advances the mathematics of real-time analyses and quantum sensor data fusion. This project was co-funded by the Quantum Sensors Challenge for Transformative Advances in Quantum Systems (QuSeC-TAQS) program, and the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering.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.