Six years of SQMS, from idea to nationwide quantum network

Image: SQMS Center · news.fnal.gov Six and a half years ago, a sketch of the first Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center logo appeared on a board in a Fermilab hallway, deliberately shaped to fit within a superconducting radio-frequency cavity, a technology central to the laboratory’s decades of work. From that initial idea, SQMS has grown into a community of hundreds of people across the United States and around the world, building new experimental capabilities and connecting scientific disciplines. “We knew it had to fit within the shape of a superconducting radio-frequency cavity,” recalls the founding director, explaining that SQMS was founded on the question of what fundamentally limits quantum system performance and how to push those boundaries. The center, established by the Department of Energy in August 2020, uses Fermilab’s expertise in superconducting materials to explore a novel quantum architecture. This seemingly simple act immediately connected the nascent quantum initiative to Fermilab’s long-standing expertise in accelerator technology and superconducting systems. The…