C: Photonic Engine to Accelerate Atomic Quantum Engineering (PEAQUE)

NSF融合加速器计划支持以使用为灵感、以团队为基础的多学科努力，以应对具有国家重要性的挑战，并将在不久的将来产生对社会有价值的成果。这个项目的目标是开发对量子计算机微型化有用的硬件。这个光子引擎加速原子量子工程(PEAQUE)项目的具体目标是开发一个集成的光子控制引擎，为拥有1000多个量子比特的NISQ规模的冷原子量子计算机提供动力。该项目是在光学和原子硬件、量子软件和量子计量学的系统级集成方面的融合努力。该项目的智能优势在于开发小型化的多光束照明和操纵(MBIS)模块，将目前房间大小的整体光学仪器减少到小型化和可扩展的系统，这是冷原子量子计算中的一个关键的缩放挑战和痛点。MBIS模块将被多路复用，以在数千个量子比特上高速执行大规模并行的局部门操作。该项目将开发专门为冷原子量子比特设计的量子纠错(QEC)色码，并通过光学控制硬件来提高NISQ处理器的保真度。在该项目下开发的硬件将通过推进最先进的原子钟来推动精确测量的界限。该项目将专注于开发和实现一个完全可编程的原子系统，旨在实现基于门的量子计算和量子模拟的商业级演示。该项目的更广泛影响将来自一种新的、势在必行的光学控制技术的可用性，这是量子计算和基于原子量子比特的模拟所急需的。该项目旨在通过制造晶片规模的硬件并开发测试套件来向更广泛的用户群传播这项技术。该项目还包括在量子劳动力培训、教育和推广方面的重大努力，以及与量子科学和工程行业实习的综合计划、从代表性不足的群体中招募和培训学生、量子技术课程开发。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。

The NSF Convergence Accelerator program supports use-inspired, team-based, multidisciplinary efforts that address challenges of national importance and will produce deliverables of value to society in the near future. The goal of this project is to develop the hardware that would be useful in miniaturizing quantum computers. The specific goal for this Photonic Engine Accelerating Atomic Quantum Engineering (PEAQUE) project is to develop an integrated photonic control engine to power a NISQ-scale cold atom quantum computer with more than 1000 qubits. The project is a convergent effort on a system-level integration of optical and atomic hardware, quantum software, and quantum metrology. The intellectual merit of this project lies in development of miniaturized Multi-Beam Illumination and Steering (MBIS) modules that reduce current room-sized, bulk-optics instrumentation to miniaturized and scalable systems, which is a key scaling challenge and pain-point in cold atom quantum computing. The MBIS modules will be multiplexed to perform massively parallelized local gate operations on 1000s of qubits at high speed. The project will result in development of color codes for quantum error correction (QEC) designed specifically for cold atom qubits and enabled by optical control hardware to improve the fidelity of NISQ processors. The hardware developed under this project will push the boundaries of precision measurement by advancing the state-of-the-art atomic clocks. This project will focus on development and implementation of a fully programmable atomic system aiming to achieve commercial-level demonstration of gate-based quantum computing and quantum simulation.The broader impact of this project will be from the availability of a new and imperative optical control technology that is critically needed by quantum computing and simulation based on atomic qubits. The project aims to disseminate the technology to a broaduser base by manufacturing the hardware on wafer scale and developing testing kits to be. The projectalso includes significant effort in quantum workforce training, education and outreach with an integratedplan of industry internships in quantum science and engineering, recruitment and training of studentsfrom underrepresented groups, course development in quantum technology.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.