U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $10 million for interdisciplinary research in Quantum Information Science (QIS) and nuclear physics. The aim of this funding is to draw on the expertise and capabilities of the nuclear physics community to advance areas of interest such as quantum computing and quantum sensors, and using advances in QIS to expand our understanding of nuclear physics.
“Because of its potential to seed technologies of the future, research in QIS has become a national priority, and the nuclear science community brings important insights and capabilities to the table,” said Timothy Hallman, DOE Associate Director of Science for Nuclear Physics. “A key objective of this program is to identify and capitalize on unique opportunities to advance both QIS and nuclear science research in ways that align with the national strategy for QIS.”
This research seeks to advance foundational and use-inspired QIS research to solve challenging problems in nuclear physics, like predicting the dynamics of many-body systems that are, as yet, inaccessible to experiments; exploring quantum sensors used to discover new particles and states of nuclear matter; or understanding how radiation affects current-generation superconducting qubits.
Unique and novel opportunities to advance the Office of Nuclear Physics QIS objectives are also encouraged through collaborative projects with the DOE National QIS Research Centers. Proposals will also be accepted for developing a quantum-smart workforce through interdisciplinary graduate and postdoctoral fellowships as well as for workshops to promote collaboration between the QIS and nuclear physics communities.
Applications are open to all accredited U.S. colleges and universities, national laboratories, nonprofits, and private sector companies. Total planned funding includes up to $5 million in Fiscal Year 2021 dollars, with outyear funding contingent on congressional appropriations.
The Funding Opportunity Announcement, sponsored by the Office of Nuclear Physics (NP) within the Department’s Office of Science can be found here.
