The Beginning of Quantum Information at NIST
The starting point for quantum information at NIST was in 1995 when the Ion Storage Group demonstrated the first quantum-logic gate. The paper that describes this important first step is "Demonstration of a Fundamental Quantum Logic Gate" (PDF, 421 kB).

Postdoctoral research associateship opportunities in quantum information

DARPA FoQuS Participants The web page http://qubit.nist.gov/FoQuS/foqus.html is aimed at providing information to potential NIST collaborators interested in a team focused on Atomic Approaches to Quantum Computing. While individual NIST investigators may join other teams, NIST scientists have decided that a major program focused on ion trap and neutral atoms will be broadly coordinated at NIST.

Quantum Information Program at NIST

In 2000, the director and deputy director of NIST established the NIST Quantum Information Program. This program is a coordinated effort to build the first (prototype) quantum logic processor consisting of approximately 10 qubits. The prototype device will be used to provide a proof-in-principle of the ability to process quantum information, demonstrate stabilized quantum memory, and quantum error correction, quantum repeater without output coupling, and to implement optimal quantum strategies for precision measurement.

The NIST Quantum Information Program is an effort that builds on the broad internationally recognized research program involving trapped ions by the NIST Physics Laboratory's Ion Storage Group headed by David Wineland. The expanded effort includes an additional experimental approach based on neutral atoms involving the Laser Cooling and Trapping Group headed by William Phillips, the 1997 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, and the NIST BEC group at JILA led by Eric Cornell, the 2001 Nobel Prize winner in Physics. The effort also includes modeling and theory of quantum devices and quantum information by the Quantum Processes Group led by Paul Julienne and the Electron and Optical Physics Division led by Charles Clark.

Additional Quantum Information Activities at NIST

	Large area Josephson junctions to create macroscopic qubits and to perform quantum logic operations, led by John Martinis.
	Study of single electron transistors (SETs)led by Neil Zimmerman. Charge offset noise is a key problem that must be overcome for most implementations of quantum information processing in solid-state systems.

NIST also has a multi-laboratory effort underway in support of quantum communication that is supported in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under its Quantum Information Science and Technology (QuIST) program. This effort entitled A Scalable Quantum Information Network is led by Carl Williams and includes representatives of the Electronics and Electrical Engineering Laboratory, the Information Technology Laboratory, and the Physics Laboratory.

NIST is an agency of the
U.S. Commerce Department's
Technology Administration.

Online: September 2001   -   Last update: June 21, 2004

Technical paper in Optics Express

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