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Quantum Horizons Alberta (QHA) is a $25 million initiative partnered with the University of Alberta, University of Calgary, and University of Lethbridge. It aims to expand the capacity of foundational quantum science research in Alberta.

Four donors are funding the initiative: Richard Bird, Joanne Cuthbertson, Patrick Daniel, and Guy Turcotte. QHA aims to establish Alberta as a key source of research and discoveries in a field which promises to be transformational to the human condition, Bird said in a press release sent out on June 15.

Quantum science is the study of very small properties and behaviours. According to Roger Moore, professor and chair of the department of physics at the U of A, applied research on quantum science typically receives more funding than fundamental research.

Applied research is when were taking fundamental physics and applying it to a system to build a useful device. Or, to have a useful, practical outcome, Moore said. However, practical applications require fundamental research beforehand.

This is a unique opportunity because its funding fundamental physics research. Its curiosity-based research on the fundamental way that our universe and the matter in it works. That leads, down the line, to future applications.

According to Moore, the initiative will fund new faculty positions and postdoctoral researchers across the three universities. He added that QHA will enable the recruitment of researchers from all over the world and bring them to Alberta.

Researchers will come in order to come up with the discoveries that will drive the next wave of scientific inventions, but [for now] it is going to be fundamental. Its going to take a while for those innovations and discoveries to trickle down and lead to new devices and approaches that benefit us all.

QHA will provide more opportunities for researchers across the three universities to collaborate. Additionally, it will build upon areas of fundamental quantum research already established at the U of A.

It will bring together quantum chemists, quantum condensed matter theorists, and subatomic theorists all in one node here at the U of A. Theyre going to have the ability to collaborate more with their colleagues in Calgary and Lethbridge, Moore said.

Joseph Maciejko, an associate professor in the department of physics at the U of A, decided to pursue a career in fundamental quantum science research after learning about quantum mechanics as a student.

When we try to understand quantum mechanics, were really trying to understand the basic physics of how the universe works, Maciejko said.

Maciejko studies quantum materials and how different materials such as metals, insulators, and conductors a material that lets electricity flow through it work. He added that trying to discover new materials is particularly exciting.

For a long time it was thought that we only had either metals or insulators. Eventually, people discovered through fundamental science that theres something called a semiconductor or a superconductor, Maciejko said.

You can use these new kinds of materials that have very different properties to make very different devices. For example, if you didnt have a superconductor, it would be really hard to make a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine.

He added that QHA will enable more discoveries of new types of materials that will eventually lead to new technologies.

Anffany Chen, a postdoctoral learner at the U of A, is a condensed matter theorist studying quantum materials. Her current interest is hyperbolic lattices, a two-dimensional form of synthetic quantum matter.

They are negatively curved, which gives them very unique properties that we havent seen before in conventional lattices or crystals, Chen said.

Right now, she is focused on the lattices strong connection to the holographic principle. According to Chen, the holographic principle is one of the most promising paths towards the unification of quantum mechanics and gravity.

This holographic principle is a mathematical translator between the quantum theory and the gravity theory. The lattices that were studying are a toy model of this holographic principle. The end goal is to have a unified theory that could both describe gravity, like black holes, and quantum mechanics, like subatomic particles.

Chen added that when it comes to fundamental research, it is necessary to have an active exchange of ideas.

Im really excited that theres this initiative. The influx of new researchers, postdocs, and professors will enable us to join a global momentum towards advancing our understanding of quantum mechanics.

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New $25 million initiative will fund theoretical quantum research in ... - The Gateway Online

COLLEGE PARK, MD, June 20, 2023 The executive board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recently endorsed by acclamation the proposal to declare 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ2025) and to include the item in the UNESCO General Conferences agenda.

The executive board further recommended that a resolution for IYQ2025 be adopted by the UNESCO General Conference and invited UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay to support efforts leading to its proclamation by the United Nations General Assembly. The American Physical Society (APS) appreciates the efforts of the Mexican Physical Society and Mexicos delegates on the UNESCO executive board for leading the proposals presentation.

This is a remarkable achievement, with 57 countries officially co-sponsoring the resolution, and with broad geographical representation spanning continents across the globe, said APS CEO Jonathan Bagger.

The proposal will be considered at the UNESCO General Conference in November 2023, followed by the United Nations General Assembly for the official declaration. The purpose of IYQ2025 is to raise awareness and highlight how quantum science and technology play a central role in various human activities, ranging from the development of devices such as lasers and transistors to the engineering of quantum systems.

Additionally, IYQ2025 will highlight the potential of quantum science and technology to address pressing societal issues such as climate change, clean water, and medical imaging topics that are important in meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Those goals cover 17 areas, including poverty, hunger, and climate change, that world leaders agreed to address by 2030.

To prepare for IYQ2025, APS is supporting an international executive committee chaired by Joseph Niemela of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics. The committee also includes leaders from the Mexican Physical Society and the European Physical Society.

This is an amazing collaborative effort that signals a strong commitment toward the role that quantum science and technologies play in finding solutions to our most challenging issues around the world, said Claudia Fracchiolla, APS Head of Public Engagement, who supports the executive committee.

We are so excited for IYQ2025 and look forward to celebrating with people around the world, she said.

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APS Supports International Year of Quantum Proposal Passed by ... - American Physical Society

The UW research team included Adina Ripin (left), lead author of the study and a doctoral student in the physics department, Ruoming Peng (center), co-lead author and a recent UW ECE graduate (Ph.D. 22), and senior author Mo Li (right), a professor in UW ECE and the physics department and the UW ECE associate chair for research.

Most of us dont think of atoms as having their own unique vibrations, but they do. In fact, its a feature so fundamental to natures building blocks that a team of University of Washington researchers recently observed and used this phenomenon in their research study. By studying the light atoms emitted when stimulated by a laser, they were able to detect vibrations sometimes referred to as atomic breathing.

The result is a breakthrough that may one day allow us to build better tools for many kinds of quantum technologies.

Led by Mo Li, a professor of photonics and nano devices in both the UW Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the UW Physics Department, the researchers set out to build a better quantum emitter, or QE, one that could be incorporated into optical circuits.

QEs are an essential part of the quantum technology toolkit in that they provide a way to generate individual quantum particles that can be used as qubits. Analogous to bits of information in everyday computing, qubits are used in quantum computing to perform calculations far beyond what can be achieved with classical computers. Typically, a qubit is built from an electron or a photon because of these particles unique quantum properties.

This is a new, atomic-scale platform, using what the scientific community calls optomechanics, in which light and mechanical motions are intrinsically coupled together, said Li. It provides a new type of involved quantum effect that can be utilized to control single photons running through integrated optical circuits for many applications.

To build their QE, the team began with tungsten diselenide, a molecule composed of tungsten and selenium. This was formed into the thinnest of sheets, each only a single atom thick. Two of these sheets were then layered one atop the other and placed over a series of nanopillars, a mere 200 nanometers wide.

This placement on the nanopillars caused the sheets to deform at the point of contact, resulting in a series of regularly spaced quantum dots. Quantum dots are semiconductor particles a few nanometers in size, having unique optical and electronic properties and are a common method of building QEs for quantum applications. Because of the deformation caused by the nanopillars, these are more specifically referred to as strain-induced quantum dots.

By applying a precise pulse of laser light to one of the quantum dots, an electron is knocked away from the tungsten diselenide atoms nucleus. This briefly creates a quasiparticle known as an exciton. This exciton is composed of the negatively charged electron and the corresponding positively charged hole in the opposite sheet. Because they are strongly bound, the electron quickly returns to the atom. When it does this, it releases a single photon encoded with very specific quantum information.

To feasibly have a quantum network, we need to have ways of reliably creating, operating on, storing and transmitting qubits, said Adina Ripin, a lead author of the paper, member of the Mo Li Group, and a doctoral student in the physics department. Photons are a natural choice for transmitting this quantum information because optical fibers enable us to transport photons long distances at high speeds, with low losses of energy or information.

This approach resulted in producing very consistent, high-quality photons that could potentially be used as qubits. By itself, this would make the project a success. However, certain details soon became apparent in the data, meriting a deeper look.

The researchers found that a quasiparticle called a phonon was also being produced in the process of creating each photon. Phonons are an optomechanical phenomenon based on the vibration between atoms and they occur in all matter. Phonons can be thought of as acoustic analogs to photons, with their own quantum waveforms. Though we cant directly see or hear this, Li says the vibrations can be visualized as the breath between atoms.

In this study, the phonons were generated by the vibration between the two atom-thin layers of tungsten diselenide, which acted like tiny drumheads vibrating relative to each other. The UW team found these phonons were tightly correlated to the photon that was being generated.

You can think of phonons in terms of a little spring attached to the layers, Li said. This spring is vibrating, so it directly changes how the electron and the hole can recombine. Because of this, the photon thats emitted changes as well.

Previously, phonons had never been observed in this type of single photon emitter system. Moreover, when analyzing the spectrum of the light emitted, the team found equally spaced peaks representing the phonons different quantum energy levels. Expert analysis by Ting Cao, a quantum theorist and an assistant professor in materials science and engineering, revealed that every single photon emitted by an exciton was coupled with one, two, three or more phonons.

A phonon is the natural quantum vibration of the tungsten diselenide material, and it has the effect of vertically stretching the exciton electron-hole pair sitting in the two layers, Li continued. This has a remarkably strong effect on the optical properties of the photon emitted by the exciton that has never been reported before.

The team was further able to tune the phonon-exciton-photon interaction by applying electrical voltage across the materials. By varying the voltage, they found they could alter the interaction energy of the associated phonons and emitted photons. This was controllable in ways relevant to encoding specific quantum information into a single photon.

I find it fascinating that we were able to observe a new kind of hybrid quantum platform, said Ruoming Peng, also a lead author of the paper, who graduated with his doctoral degree from UW ECE in 2022. By studying the way phonons interact with quantum emitters, we discovered a whole new realm of possibilities for controlling and manipulating quantum states. This could lead to even more exciting discoveries in the future.

Li and his team want to extend their system further, controlling multiple emitters and their associated phonon states. Doing this would allow the quantum emitters to talk to each other, building the basis for new kinds of quantum circuitry. Future applications for these approaches include quantum computing, quantum communications and quantum sensing.

The UW team includes Adina Ripin, Ruoming Peng, Xiaowei Zhang, Srivatsa Chakravarthi, Minhao He, Xiaodong Xu, Kai-Mei Fu, Ting Cao, and Mo Li. The research is supported by the National Science Foundation. Their research paper, Tunable phononic coupling in excitonic quantum emitters was recently published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

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University of Washington team detects atomic 'breathing' for ... - GeekWire