Quantum Information Science, or QIS, exploits quantum properties (such as coherence, superposition, entanglement and squeezing) and combines them with elements of information science to acquire, communicate and process information beyond what classical approaches can achieve.
The Fermilab Quantum Institute, or FQI, leverages existing Fermilab expertise and infrastructure and partners with leading QIS researchers to pursue high-impact QIS research and development while advancing high-energy physics applications. In this pursuit, FQI takes advantage of new quantum capabilities and builds the capacity necessary for the applications’ deployment. In support of the Fermilab science program and HEP science objectives, FQI engages with QIS initiatives across the entire DOE Office of Science.
QIS applications
Because they can overcome the noise that quantum fluctuations produce, precisely controlled quantum systems can acquire information to achieve sensitivity and resolution that is superior compared to conventional measurement approaches. The applications range from precision measurements of the magnitude and direction of fields, measurements of phase shifts and superior performance of ensembles of atomic clocks.
One such example is the use of qubits as sensors for searching for dark matter particles. This approach improves the experimental signal-to-noise ratio for the detection of dark matter candidates.
Information encoded in quantum states can be moved over macroscopic distances coherently for secure communications and networking of quantum computers or sensors.
Quantum networks rely on entanglement distribution and teleportation to transmit quantum information between any two locations, enabling information sharing across the network. Entanglement is the phenomenon in which the quantum states of two or more qubits are correlated, no matter their distance. Entanglement is integral to quantum teleportation. Learn how Fermilab achieved quantum teleportation and how Fermilab is developing Quantum Networks in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Information encoded in quantum states is manipulated to solve hard problems and probe quantum phenomena, such as simulations of quantum field theories and quantum machine learning and optimization algorithms for Monte Carlo event generators, event reconstruction, data analysis and object classification.
At FQI, scientists develop algorithms that are expressed as sets of tasks a quantum computer uses to solve a problem. Quantum gates are manipulations of the qubit state that are like computer instructions. They are arranged in quantum circuits that act on input qubits and end in measurements. Learn how Fermilab is developing quantum algorithms to solve some of the biggest challenges in physics.