Feature Story | Argonne National Laboratory
Six ways Argonne is advancing quantum information research
Celebrating the International Year of Quantum
During the International Year of Quantum, we celebrate Argonne advances in quantum computing, communications, sensing and materials.
Argonne leverages world-class expertise and scientific facilities to push the boundaries of quantum information science and technology. (Image by Shutterstock/Jurik Peter.)
Quantum information science is changing how we understand, interact with and shape the world around us. With the expectation of more secure communications and the potential to solve problems that stump today’s best computers, quantum technologies offer transformative breakthroughs.
Helping drive this national effort is the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory. As a leading research center in the nation and the lead laboratory for Q-NEXT, a DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Center, Argonne is pushing the frontiers of what’s possible through the Argonne Quantum Institute and multiple efforts in quantum information science.
During this International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, we bring you six ways Argonne is expanding the possibilities for quantum technology:
1. Creating and characterizing qubit materials
Qubits are the basic units of quantum information, and making them requires extraordinary control over atomic structures. Scientists leverage Argonne’s world-class facilities to engineer atomic materials into high-performance qubits.
At the Argonne Quantum Foundry, researchers create materials that can serve as semiconducting qubits using materials such as diamond and silicon carbide. At the Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM), a DOE Office of Science user facility, scientists develop qubits from superconductors, surfaces and interfaces, cold atoms and other novel materials. And at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), another DOE Office of Science user facility, researchers at Argonne and partner organizations probe materials at the atomic scale to reveal the structures and dynamics that lead to better qubit performance.
2. Harnessing supercomputing power to advance quantum computing
Quantum computers are powerful but still in early stages of development. The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), a DOE Office of Science user facility that houses the Aurora exascale computer, provides one of the most advanced classical supercomputing environments in the world, where scientists simulate, model and optimize quantum systems.
These tools help researchers design better algorithms and improve qubit performance, bridging the gap between current technologies and future quantum breakthroughs.
3. Building quantum networks over a range of distances
Argonne is laying the foundation for quantum communication networks. Through InterQnet, researchers are developing systems that connect different types of quantum hardware, playing to the strengths of each for a more versatile network. Through the internal ARQNET testbed, which connects five locales on the Argonne site, scientists are realizing a campus-scale network. And as a node of the Chicago Quantum Network, Argonne is part of a multiorganizational effort to build a metropolitan-scale quantum system.
These efforts are essential for developing the quantum networks and enabling data transmission.
4. Developing sensors for science
Argonne is pioneering quantum sensors that detect signals too faint for conventional instruments.
These include devices capable of sensing individual particles, identifying dark matter candidates and detecting nanoscale changes in magnetic fields.
Quantum sensors promise breakthroughs in domains such as medicine, geology and fundamental physics, offering unprecedented sensitivity and precision.
5. Contributing to a robust supply chain of materials for quantum devices and systems
At the Argonne Quantum Foundry, scientists grow, modify and characterize materials for custom quantum platforms.
As a resource for quantum materials development and synthesis, the foundry is fulfilling a critical need in quantum information research, contributing to a reliable national supply chain of materials for quantum technologies.
Through the foundry, Argonne is supporting researchers and industries across the country, laying the groundwork for scalable quantum systems.
6. Strengthening the quantum ecosystem through partnerships
Innovation thrives in collaboration. Through the Argonne Quantum Institute, the lab works with partners in government, industry and academia to advance quantum research and technology.
As the lead lab for Q-NEXT, Argonne coordinates national efforts to develop technologies for distributing quantum information, grow the quantum workforce and strengthen the supply chain.
Argonne also engages startups through Chain Reaction Innovations and partners with regional hubs such as the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park and the Chicago Quantum Exchange.
Together, these efforts are helping the U.S. lead the way in quantum science and making the future of quantum possible.
About Argonne’s Center for Nanoscale Materials
The Center for Nanoscale Materials is one of the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers, premier national user facilities for interdisciplinary research at the nanoscale supported by the DOE Office of Science. Together the NSRCs comprise a suite of complementary facilities that provide researchers with state-of-the-art capabilities to fabricate, process, characterize and model nanoscale materials, and constitute the largest infrastructure investment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. The NSRCs are located at DOE’s Argonne, Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley, Oak Ridge, Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories. For more information about the DOE NSRCs, please visit https://science.osti.gov/User-Facilities/User-Facilities-at-a-Glance.
The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility provides supercomputing capabilities to the scientific and engineering community to advance fundamental discovery and understanding in a broad range of disciplines. Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program, the ALCF is one of two DOE Leadership Computing Facilities in the nation dedicated to open science.
About the Advanced Photon Source
The U. S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory is one of the world’s most productive X-ray light source facilities. The APS provides high-brightness X-ray beams to a diverse community of researchers in materials science, chemistry, condensed matter physics, the life and environmental sciences, and applied research. These X-rays are ideally suited for explorations of materials and biological structures; elemental distribution; chemical, magnetic, electronic states; and a wide range of technologically important engineering systems from batteries to fuel injector sprays, all of which are the foundations of our nation’s economic, technological, and physical well-being. Each year, more than 5,000 researchers use the APS to produce over 2,000 publications detailing impactful discoveries, and solve more vital biological protein structures than users of any other X-ray light source research facility. APS scientists and engineers innovate technology that is at the heart of advancing accelerator and light-source operations. This includes the insertion devices that produce extreme-brightness X-rays prized by researchers, lenses that focus the X-rays down to a few nanometers, instrumentation that maximizes the way the X-rays interact with samples being studied, and software that gathers and manages the massive quantity of data resulting from discovery research at the APS.
This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.
About Q-NEXT
Q-NEXT is a U.S. Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by Argonne National Laboratory. Q-NEXT brings together world-class researchers from national laboratories, universities and U.S. technology companies with the goal of developing the science and technology to control and distribute quantum information. Q-NEXT collaborators and institutions have established two national foundries for quantum materials and devices, develop networks of sensors and secure communications systems, establish simulation and network test beds, and train the next-generation quantum-ready workforce to ensure continued U.S. scientific and economic leadership in this rapidly advancing field. For more information, visit https://q-next.org/.
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.