Workshop on Quantum Engineering Infrastructure. To Be Held Virtual In April 2021.

The workshop on quantum engineering infrastructure will bring together the nanomanufacturing and quantum engineering communities to develop short- and long-term solutions for supporting quantum research in the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), a network of nanofabrication facilities at universities across the United States. The workshop presenters and attendees will be academic and industry leaders at the cross-over between quantum engineering and nanofabrication, and the presentations will provide overviews of the various aspects of quantum technology, as well as detailed information about the quantum capabilities of various NNCI nodes. This information will help to ensure the current facility infrastructure can best be used to enable new and ongoing projects. The workshop will also have a series of breakout sessions, where the participants will discuss the longer-term infrastructure needs of the network. The workshop outcomes will be compiled into a report that will be broadly distributed, which will enable follow-up activities on key action items developed in this three-day event. The learning developed in the workshop will have broad benefits to the NSF and NNCI communities, and to the broader national effort on establishing a leadership position in quantum research and technology.

Quantum information systems are poised to change the way problems are solved in the coming decades. Similar to the computer revolution of the 20th century, quantum engineered systems offer the opportunity to access problems in the 21st century previously unattainable with conventional computing platforms. However, quantum technology is still in its infancy, and requires basic research, the kind that is supported by the NNCI network. Preparing this network for the quantum revolution is challenging, given the vastly different materials, processing, device and integration requirements compared to conventional microelectronics, and suggests a rethinking of the fabrication infrastructure that is needed. This challenge is even more acute given the fact that quantum engineered systems are based upon a diverse range of platforms including superconducting Josephson junctions, trapped ions, spin qubits using quantum dots, Majorana zero modes, color centers, and others. This workshop will seek to address the infrastructure issues in two ways. First, it will inform the community of quantum researchers that utilize NNCI facilities as to how their projects can be supported by the NNCI network. As a long-term goal, the workshop will help to inform a strategic vision for the future of quantum fabrication infrastructure, and how shared national resources can best be positioned to meet the needs of quantum engineered systems.

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.