NSF invests $37.5 million in its Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation, led by UC Berkeley

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is renewing its support(link is external) for the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation (NSF CIQC), a multi-institutional research center spanning California and led by UC Berkeley. The far-reaching grant will supply UC Berkeley and its partner institutions’ advanced quantum research hub with $37.5 million in funding over the next five years to address three priority research challenges: discovering and realizing the power of quantum computation, understanding nature through the lens of quantum information science, and developing quantum technologies and their applications.

“For more than four decades, NSF has been laying the foundational groundwork of research and discovery that is powering today’s modern quantum computing, sensing and communication,” said Brian Stone, performing the duties of the NSF Director. “It’s time for focused activities to leverage that base of knowledge to drive us even farther forward to the benefit of all Americans. The NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes are a next step for us in understanding the quantum world we live in.”

“The NSF’s support allows us to continue serving the nation as a leading institute for quantum computing, generating fundamental advances in science and engineering and developing the talented workforce that will translate these advances into the quantum technologies of the future,” said NSF CIQC Director Dan Stamper-Kurn, a physics professor at UC Berkeley.

“We find ourselves at the sprint stage in the development of the quantum computer,” continued Stamper-Kurn. “Our focus on addressing long-term roadblocks to this development by combining theoretical, experimental, and engineering research will continue to fuel this sprint.”

The NSF CIQC was founded in 2020, as one of the five original NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes motivated by the National Quantum Initiative Act’s call to strengthen America’s scientific leadership in foundational quantum information research.

True to the nature of quantum information science, the institute is multidisciplinary, combining expertise in chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics, and physics. Researchers explore how to harness quantum systems to create next-generation technologies for sensors, computing, and communications.

Through collaborative efforts over the past six years, the institute’s researchers have stress-tested claims of quantum computers that outperform classical ones, stimulating aggressive development by the quantum industry. By asking how quantum information evolves within physical systems, they discovered new kinds of phase transitions and established rigorous insights on the structure of quantum matter. They also advanced frontier research on neutral-atom platforms for quantum computing, setting the stage for the current explosion of activity and investment in such systems.

“The renewal and expansion of the NSF CIQC is a momentous event for the field of quantum science and for the quantum ecosystem in the state of California,” said Shimon Kolkowitz, the Herst Chair in Physics at UC Berkeley. “UC Berkeley’s position as a world leader in quantum research over the past century, as exemplified today by the NSF CIQC, was a large part of what drew me to relocate my research group here three years ago, and I am thrilled to now be joining NSF CIQC 2.0 as both a funded researcher and a member of the leadership team. This center enables and enhances large-scale academic collaboration on basic quantum research at a pivotal moment for the field.”

By linking leading quantum research teams and educational initiatives across the state of California, the NSF CIQC serves as the backbone of an integrated, statewide ecosystem. UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Stanford University, and the California Institute of Technology are core research partners.