CCI Phase I: NSF Center for Advanced Molecular Architectures for Quantum Information Science

NSF量子信息科学高级分子结构中心由化学创新中心（CCI）项目支持。加州大学洛杉矶分校化学与生物化学系的Anastassia Alexandrova教授将领导由Justin Caram助理教授（加州大学洛杉矶分校化学与生物化学）、Miguel Garcia-Garibay杰出教授（加州大学洛杉矶分校化学与生物化学）、Eric Hudson教授（加州大学洛杉矶分校物理与天文学）和Anna Krylov教授（加州大学洛杉矶分校化学与生物化学）组成的研究小组。南加州大学（University of Southern California）致力于开发新的分子和表面平台，其中包含可以充当量子比特（qubits）的分子附属物。这些“量子官能团”具有特殊的磁自旋和电荷，可以用激光激发并制备成量子态的“叠加态”——量子计算机的基本组成部分。然而，与目前自上而下构建的量子计算平台不同，分子上的量子官能团可以被制造并扩展到数万亿个相同的可寻址量子比特，这可能为巨大的量子计算机提供一种新的架构。基于量子比特的计算程序有望以比经典计算机更快的速度解决问题，并模拟超出当前任何计算机能力的复杂系统。这种量子方法还可能彻底改变超安全通信（量子互联网）和超精确的化学和物理测量（量子传感）。利用化学规则和分子设计和合成工具，再加上先进的光谱学和计算，该中心将利用未实现的分子复杂性开发量子信息系统，使量子系统更加灵活、可扩展和可实现。因此，该中心将定制系统，以满足各种量子信息科学（QIS）在传感和计算方面的需求，同时开设一个新的化学分支，即QIS化学。该中心还将吸引多个传统学科交叉点的研究人员，这是QIS的未来所在。该中心的团队将通过研讨会、创新课程和模块以及教师教育计划来推进教育。我们将采用创新的策略，招收来自各个层次和不同背景的学生，并通过中心活动促进妇女和代表性不足群体的贡献，同时发展以化学为中心的QIS社区。在传感、通信和计算领域实现量子增强，需要高保真地制备、维护和读出定义的量子态，从而抵抗退相干并适应纠缠。到目前为止，表现出这种干净量子态的最成功的系统是那些极其简单的系统：原子、真空中的非常小的分子和固体中的缺陷。由于这些系统中的电子状态是“封闭的”，即严格局限于原子或缺陷，因此它们可以在不耗散到环境的情况下进行光循环，并且可以控制退相干。然而，在一致性中获得的东西，在系统复杂性中失去了，从而失去了灵活性、可扩展性和最终的实用性。这个NSF中心将使用化学规则来大幅扩展系统的功能，从而为QIS提供可用的功能。我们将设计携带量子比特功能（或量子官能团）的分子，通过利用化学复杂性而不是避免它。因为分子是相同的，可以按摩尔量合成，所以它们可以组装成可扩展的下一代量子信息平台——这是一种尚未实现的特征组合。更广泛的影响将包括传统学科交叉点的研究人员的教育：物理、合成、理论化学和物理。我们将采用创新的招聘策略，例如通过访问本科生的研究日，以及从社区学院转学的年轻研究人员，招收来自各个层次和不同背景的学生。促进妇女和代表性不足的群体将是中心所有活动的中心。中心将通过组织研讨会、训练营、研讨会、跨部门课程、本科课程的创新模块，以及中心所有相关背景的研究人员的定期交流，为建立化学领域的QIS社区做出重大努力。该中心将制定一项教师教育计划，通过该计划，他们将获得可视化工具，从而扩大他们接触大量高中生的能力。与公众的接触将通过发展和多样化已建立的成功平台来完成，例如加州大学洛杉矶分校物理科学部的探索宇宙活动。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。

The NSF Center for Advanced Molecular Architectures for Quantum Information Science is supported by the Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) Program in the Division of Chemistry. Professor Anastassia Alexandrova in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) will lead a research team composed of Assistant Professor Justin Caram (Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA), Distinguished Professor Miguel Garcia-Garibay (Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA), Professor Eric Hudson (Physics and Astronomy, UCLA), and Professor Anna Krylov (Chemistry, University of Southern California) to develop new molecular and surface platforms that contain molecular appendages that can act as quantum bits (qubits). These “quantum functional groups” have particular magnetic spin and electric charge, which can be excited with lasers and prepared into “superpositions” of quantum states—the fundamental building block of a quantum computer. However, unlike current quantum computing platforms, which are built from the top down and are limited to less than 100 qubits, quantum functional groups on molecules can be made and scaled to trillions of identical addressable qubits, potentially providing a novel architecture for enormous quantum computers. Computational programs based on qubits are expected to solve problems at much higher speeds than classical computers and simulate complicated systems that are beyond the capabilities of any current computer. Such quantum approaches may also revolutionize ultra-secure communications (quantum Internet) and ultra-precise chemical and physical measurements (quantum sensing). Using the rules of chemistry and the tools of molecular design and synthesis, coupled with advanced spectroscopy and computation, the Center will make use of unrealized molecular complexity to develop quantum information systems that enable substantially more flexible, scalable, and achievable quantum systems. As a result, the Center will tailor the systems to meet a variety of quantum information science (QIS) needs in sensing and computing, while simultaneously opening a new branch of chemistry, namely, the chemistry of QIS. The center will also engage researchers at the intersection of multiple traditional disciplines, where the future of QIS resides. The Center’s team will advance education via workshops, innovative courses and modules, and a teachers education program. Students will be recruited at all levels and from diverse backgrounds using innovative strategies, and the contributions of women and underrepresented groups will be promoted through Center activities, while growing the QIS community centered in chemistry. Achieving quantum enhancement in sensing, communication, and computing requires the high-fidelity preparation, maintenance, and readout of defined quantum states, which then would be resistant to decoherence and amenable to entanglement. So far, the most successful systems that exhibit such clean quantum states are those of extreme simplicity: atoms, very small molecules in vacuo, and defects in solids. Because the electronic states in these systems are “closed”, i.e., strictly localized to an atom or a defect, they can be optically cycled without dissipation to the environment, and decoherence can be managed. However, what is gained in coherence, is lost in system complexity and thus flexibility, scalability and eventual practicability. This NSF Center will use the rules of chemistry to substantially expand the repertoire of systems, and therefore the capabilities, available for QIS. We will design molecules that carry qubit functionalities (or quantum functional groups), by using chemical complexity rather than avoiding it. Because molecules are identical and can be synthesized in molar quantities, they can be assembled into scalable, next-generation quantum information platforms - a combination of features not yet realized. Broader impacts will include education of researchers at the intersection of traditional disciplines: physical, synthetic, and theoretical chemistry, and physics. We will recruit students at all levels and from diverse backgrounds, using innovative recruiting strategies, such as through research days for visiting undergraduate students, and young researchers at the moment of transfer from Community Colleges. Promoting women and underrepresented groups will be central to all Center activities. The Center will make a significant effort toward building the QIS community housed in the field of chemistry, through organizing symposia, bootcamps, workshops, cross-departmental courses, innovative modules for undergraduate classes, and regular communication of all researchers of the center, from all involved backgrounds. The Center will develop a teacher education program, through which they will be provided visualization tools that will amplify their ability to reach large numbers of high school students. Outreach to the public will be done by growing and diversifying established, successful platforms, such as the Explore Your Universe event by the Division of Physical Sciences of UCLA.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.