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KINGSTON, R.I. Feb. 14, 2024 Wide commercial use of quantum computers may still be a decade away, but a shortage of skilled workers is already being felt across industries that will benefit from the revolutionary technology.

Quantum computing is going to have some very dramatic effects as we go forward, said Len Kahn, chair of the University of Rhode Islands Physics Department. Were trying to prepare. As quantum computing explodes, the workforce is not going to be prepared because theyre working with classical computers. There are millions of people involved in programming classical computers, but what theyre doing is almost antithetical to what happens in quantum computing.

To help fill the talent gap, URI is teaming with the MITRE Corp. on an initiative Quantum Pivot to help professionals with STEM experience build the skills and knowledge to transition into career pathways in quantum information science and technology.

URI is among an inaugural group of 27 higher education institutions across the U.S. that have been selected to take part in the National Science Foundations new Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies, a program that aims to grow and diversify the workforce in key emerging technologies. In September, URI was awarded a three-year, $998,667 grant as one of the programs Pivot tracks, which provide STEM professionals in any field with experiential learning opportunities, training and mentoring to transition into careers in quantum information science and technology.

Quantum computers, which can perform some tasks millions of times faster than todays fastest supercomputers, have the ability to revolutionize technology affecting numerous industries, from machine learning to artificial intelligence, marketing and advertising to supply chain management, from pharmaceuticals to cybersecurity, to name a few.

While many of the quantum computers today are small-scale, experimental machines, companies such as IBM, a pioneer in the field, are making progress, Kahn said. IBM is doubling the number of quantum bits, or qubits, which store and process information in quantum computers, in its computer annually.

But as companies invest in quantum technologies, finding talented workers threatens to hold back progress. Only about one qualified candidate is available for every three quantum job openings and only half of quantum computing jobs are expected to be filled by 2025.

Right now, we dont have the workforce to meet the demand, Kahn said. Once quantum computing starts to take off, the catch-up is going to be very difficult. At URI, were contributing to the preparation of that workforce.

URI, which launched one of the first masters degree programs in quantum computing in 2021, has been investing in the field. This includes a research partnership with IBM that provides URI faculty and students access to IBMs cutting-edge quantum computing systems, while also adding faculty and post-doctoral researchers.

For the NSF initiative, URI will build on its established, one-year online Quantum Computing Graduate Certificate program, which will graduate its first cohort of students this spring.

The programs four courses give students the language and foundational knowledge needed to introduce them to the technology, Kahn said. Over the two semesters, students get a refresher in math, a basic understanding of the concepts of quantum mechanics, along with training in designing quantum algorithms and a fundamental understanding of applications such as quantum sensing, teleportation, cryptography, circuitry and communications. Threaded through the program are student projects in quantum computing, which provide students a portfolio to show prospective employers.The ability to focus on and research a project distinguishes URIs certificate program from other online programs.

Along with the online courses, students attend four in-person workshops two days per course where they will do hands-on experiments and have access to MITREs quantum technologies professionals, who can provide mentoring and career development.

MITRE adds a lot of expertise to this initiative, Kahn said. At their Princeton campus, they have 15 Ph.D.s doing only quantum. They also work with Department of Defense industries so they know what the needs are and where the needs are.

The NSF grant will also fund such areas as a remote lab for students, scholarships, and recruitment, with an eye toward diversifying the workforce, Kahn said. URI is working to recruit candidates through groups such as IBMs quantum computing consortium of students from historically Black colleges and universities, and professional societies that serve professionals from underrepresented communities.

An important part of this grant is to help diversify the workforce and make sure people from underrepresented communities get opportunities, Kahn said. URI and MITRE are dedicated to bringing a diverse culture to STEM fields.

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URI program to help STEM professionals pivot into quantum information science careers - The University of Rhode Island

Theoretical physicists have found a way to potentially enhance quantum computer chips memory capabilities by ensuring information remains organized, similar to perpetually swirling coffee creamer, defying traditional physics expectations.

Add a dash of creamer to your morning coffee, and clouds of white liquid will swirl around your cup. But give it a few seconds, and those swirls will disappear, leaving you with an ordinary mug of brown liquid.

Something similar happens in quantum computer chipsdevices that tap into the strange properties of the universe at its smallest scaleswhere information can quickly jumble up, limiting the memory capabilities of these tools.

That doesnt have to be the case, said Rahul Nandkishore, associate professor of physics at the University of Colorado Boulder.

In a new coup for theoretical physics, he and his colleagues have used math to show that scientists could create, essentially, a scenario where the milk and coffee never mixno matter how hard you stir them.

The groups findings may lead to new advances in quantum computer chips, potentially providing engineers with new ways to store information in incredibly tiny objects.

Think of the initial swirling patterns that appear when you add cream to your morning coffee, said Nandkishore, senior author of the new study. Imagine if these patterns continued to swirl and dance no matter how long you watched.

Researchers still need to run experiments in the lab to make sure that these never-ending swirls really are possible. But the groups results are a major step forward for physicists seeking to create materials that remain out of balance, or equilibrium, for long periods of timea pursuit known as ergodicity breaking.

The teams findings were recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

The study, which includes co-authors David Stephen and Oliver Hart, postdoctoal researchers in physics at CU Boulder, hinges on a common problem in quantum computing.

Normal computers run on bits, which take the form of zeros or ones. Nandkishore explained that quantum computers, in contrast, employ qubits, which can exist as zero, one or, through the strangeness of quantum physics, zero and one at the same time. Engineers have made qubits out of a wide range of things, including individual atoms trapped by lasers or tiny devices called superconductors.

But just like that cup of coffee, qubits can become easily mixed up. If you flip, for example, all of your qubits to one, theyll eventually flip back and forth until the entire chip becomes a disorganized mess.

In the new research, Nandkishore and his colleagues may have figured a way around that tendency toward mixing. The group calculated that if scientists arrange qubits into particular patterns, these assemblages will retain their informationeven if you disturb them using a magnetic field or a similar disruption. That could, the physicist said, allow engineers to build devices with a kind of quantum memory.

This could be a way of storing information, he said. You would write information into these patterns, and the information couldnt be degraded.

In the study, the researchers used mathematical modeling tools to envision an array of hundreds to thousands of qubits arranged in a checkerboard-like pattern.

The trick, they discovered, was to stuff the qubits into a tight spot. If qubits get close enough together, Nadkishore explained, they can influence the behavior of their neighbors, almost like a crowd of people trying to squeeze themselves into a telephone booth. Some of those people might be standing upright or on their heads, but they cant flip the other way without pushing on everyone else.

The researchers calculated that if they arranged these patterns in just the right way, those patterns might flow around a quantum computer chip and never degrademuch like those clouds of cream swirling forever in your coffee.

The wonderful thing about this study is that we discovered that we could understand this fundamental phenomenon through what is almost simple geometry, Nandkishore said.

The teams findings could influence a lot more than just quantum computers.

Nandkishore explained that almost everything in the universe, from cups of coffee to vast oceans, tends to move toward what scientists call thermal equilibrium. If you drop an ice cube into your mug, for example, heat from your coffee will melt the ice, eventually forming a liquid with a uniform temperature.

His new findings, however, join a growing body of research that suggests that some small organizations of matter can resist that equilibriumseemingly breaking some of the most immutable laws of the universe.

Were not going to have to redo our math for ice and water, Nandkishore said. The field of mathematics that we call statistical physics is incredibly successful for describing things we encounter in everyday life. But there are settings where maybe it doesnt apply.

Reference: Ergodicity Breaking Provably Robust to Arbitrary Perturbations by David T. Stephen, Oliver Hart and Rahul M. Nandkishore, 23 January 2024, Physical Review Letters. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.040401

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Quantum Breakthrough: New Method Preserves Information Against All Odds - SciTechDaily

Researchers have identified a novel quantum state of matter with chiral currents, potentially revolutionizing electronics and quantum technologies. This breakthrough, confirmed through direct observation using the Italian Elettra synchrotron, holds vast applications in sensors, biomedicine, and renewable energy. Credit: SciTechDaily.com

An international research group has identified a novel state of matter, characterized by the presence of a quantum phenomenon known as chiral current.

These currents are generated on an atomic scale by a cooperative movement of electrons, unlike conventional magnetic materials whose properties originate from the quantum characteristic of an electron known as spin and their ordering in the crystal.

Chirality is a property of extreme importance in science, for example, it is fundamental also to understand DNA. In the quantum phenomenon discovered, the chirality of the currents was detected by studying the interaction between light and matter, in which a suitably polarized photon can emit an electron from the surface of the material with a well-defined spin state.

The discovery, published in Nature, significantly enriches our knowledge of quantum materials, of the search for chiral quantum phases, and of the phenomena that occur at the surface of materials.

The discovery of the existence of these quantum states, explains Federico Mazzola, researcher in Condensed matter physics at Ca Foscari University of Venice and leader of the research, may pave the way for the development of a new type of electronics that employs chiral currents as information carriers in place of the electrons charge. Furthermore, these phenomena could have an important implication for future applications based on new chiral optoelectronic devices, and a great impact in the field of quantum technologies for new sensors, as well as in the biomedical and renewable energy fields.

Born from a theoretical prediction, this study directly and for the first time verified the existence of this quantum state, until now enigmatic and elusive, thanks to the use of the Italian Elettra synchrotron. Until now, knowledge about the existence of this phenomenon was in fact limited to theoretical predictions for some materials. Its observation on the surfaces of solids makes it extremely interesting for the development of new ultra-thin electronic devices.

The research group, which includes national and international partners including the Ca Foscari University of Venice, the Spin Institute the CNR Materials Officina Institute, and the University of Salerno, investigated the phenomenon of a material already known to the scientific community for its electronic properties and for superconducting spintronics applications, but the new discovery has a broader scope, being much more general and applicable to a vast range of quantum materials.

These materials are revolutionizing quantum physics and the current development of new technologies, with properties that go far beyond those described by classical physics.

Reference: Signatures of a surface spinorbital chiral metal by Federico Mazzola, Wojciech Brzezicki, Maria Teresa Mercaldo, Anita Guarino, Chiara Bigi, Jill A. Miwa, Domenico De Fazio, Alberto Crepaldi, Jun Fujii, Giorgio Rossi, Pasquale Orgiani, Sandeep Kumar Chaluvadi, Shyni Punathum Chalil, Giancarlo Panaccione, Anupam Jana, Vincent Polewczyk, Ivana Vobornik, Changyoung Kim, Fabio Miletto-Granozio, Rosalba Fittipaldi, Carmine Ortix, Mario Cuoco and Antonio Vecchione, 7 February 2024, Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07033-8

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Beyond Classical Physics: Scientists Discover New State of Matter With Chiral Properties - SciTechDaily

The exact reason behind high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates, which are a type of material, is still a mystery at the microscopic level. Many scientists think that understanding the pseudogap phase, which is a normal non-superconducting state in these materials, could lead to significant progress in this area. One key question is whether the pseudogap comes from strong pairing fluctuations.

Unitary Fermi gases, in which the pseudogapif it existsnecessarily arises from many-body pairing, offer ideal quantum simulators to address this question.

An international team of scientists has made a breakthrough discovery that could shed light on the microscopic mystery behind high-temperature superconductivity. It could also address global energy challenges.

In a recent study, Associate Professor Hui Hu from Swinburne University of Technology collaborated with researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Together, they conducted experiments that revealed the presence of pseudogap pairing in a strongly interacting cloud of fermionic lithium atoms.

This discovery confirms that multiple particles are pairing up before reaching a critical temperature, leading to remarkable quantum superfluidity. This finding challenges the previous notion that only pairs of particles were involved in this process.

Swinburne University of Technologys Associate Professor Hui Hu said,Quantum superfluidity and superconductivity are the most intriguing phenomenon of quantum physics.

Despite enormous efforts over the last four decades, the origin of high-temperature superconductivity, particularly the appearance of an energy gap in the normal state before superconducting, remains elusive.

The central aim of our work was to emulate a simple text-book model to examine one of the two main interpretations of pseudogap the energy gap without superconducting using a system of ultracold atoms.

In 2010, scientists attempted to investigate pseudogap pairing with ultracold atoms. However, their experiment was unsuccessful. In this new experiment, researchers used advanced methods to prepare homogeneous Fermi clouds and eliminate unwanted interatomic collisions, along with precise control over magnetic fields.

These advancements enabled the observation of a pseudogap without relying on specific microscopic theories to interpret the data. The researchers found a reduction in spectral weight near the Fermi surface in the normal state.

According to researchers,This discovery will undoubtedly have far-reaching implications for the future study of strongly interacting Fermi systems and could lead to potential applications in future quantum technologies.

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Quantum research sheds light on the mystery of high-temperature superconductivity - Tech Explorist