Research
Coherent control of quantum systems and entanglement-enhanced metrology promise sensitivities unreachable with conventional measurement schemes. Still, progress towards real-world applications has been limited to date by the fragile nature of quantum superposition states and difficulties in preparation, control and state readout.
Our program will focus on three tightly integrated areas to overcome these roadblocks:
- We will study novel entangled input states for quantum sensors that are more robust than states commonly used, and more efficient strategies to prepare such novel states.
- We will devise and investigate multi-qubit control strategies during signal acquisition that promise enhanced signals and increased immunity to noise, as well as powerful new measurement modalities.
- We will explore efficient and non-invasive readout schemes, adapted to extract the desired information from multi-qubit states, and realize metrology near the Heisenberg limit.
Our comprehensive program will advance multi-qubit quantum metrology and implement new theoretical ideas into a broad range of physical modalities, leading to practical applications. To exploit the full potential for quantum-enhanced metrology and mitigate risk associated with a single physical system, our proposed program consists of three complementary experimental platforms:
- A solid-state system comprising nuclear and electronic spins in diamond, centered on the Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) center.
- Mesoscopic atomic systems in cavity and optical lattices.
- Ions in Paul and Penning traps.
Since these platforms share common underlying theoretical themes and experimental techniques, our large team will benefit from a cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge sharing, which will advance the whole field of quantum-enhanced metrology and sensing.
Theoretical efforts will be tightly integrated with the experimental work and will guide the scientific exploration as well as identify new directions as they emerge. Our MURI program, building on the expertise of the PI’s and combining exploratory theoretical research with development of new applications, will deliver novel metrology and sensing devices operating at the quantum limit, including a solid-state scanning magnetometer, atomic sensors for magnetic surfaces, and Heisenberg-limited clocks.
