Quantum nanodiamond sensors advance with $2M NSF funding

The University of Chicago’s Quantum Sensing for Biophysics and Bioengineering (QuBBE) and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Hybrid Quantum Architectures and Networks (HQAN) will each receive $37.5 million in renewed funding from the National Science Foundation. These five-year investments build on work initiated under the 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act, advancing both biological observation and the modular construction of quantum computers. “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. QuBBE focuses on developing nanoscale sensors, including those utilizing diamond and genetically encodable proteins, to study biological processes currently beyond reach, while HQAN pursues networking smaller quantum processing units as the most promising path toward…