Quantum Information Science and the National Quantum Initiative (2020 DOE transition)
| Book 2 - Issue Papers
|
|---|
| Entire 2020 DOE Transition book As of October 2020 |
The emerging fields of Quantum Information Science (QIS) – the ability to exploit intricate quantum mechanical phenomena to create fundamentally new ways of obtaining and processing information – are opening new vistas of science discovery and technology innovation. QIS is currently at the threshold of a revolution, creating opportunities and challenges for the Nation, as growing international interest and investments are starting a global quantum race, with implications for economic competitiveness and national security. How this revolution will develop, how great the opportunities for the U.S. science and technology sectors, and how rapidly the field will proceed, will hinge on a strategic and targeted U.S. initiative embodied in the National Quantum Initiative Act, in which DOE has a leadership role.
Summary
It is critical to United States’ national security and economic competitiveness to establish and maintain global leadership in the emerging field of Quantum Information Science (QIS). This is the objective of the initiative mandated by the National Quantum Initiative (NQI) Act, Public Law 115-368, enacted on December 21, 2018. The U.S. faces fierce international competition in QIS; main players in this field include China, the EU, U.K., Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands.
DOE has a unique position to cover a wide range of QIS activities from early-stage research to securing communications – catalyzing research, development, and adoption of advanced QIS technologies and practices. Participating offices within DOE include the Office of Science (SC) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). DOE’s distinctive potential for vital contributions to the NQI is reflected in the unique capabilities and expertise that are resident in the DOE National Laboratory complex.
SC’s QIS investments are focused on three key areas: early-stage core research within the SC programs, support for National QIS Research Centers, and plans to develop a quantum Internet that will connect the National QIS Research Centers and DOE laboratories. As the NQI Act recognized the interdisciplinary nature of the field, SC has emphasized collaboration and coordination of QIS activities across all the SC program offices, as well as with NNSA, DOE technology offices, other federal agencies, universities, and the commercial sector.
Issue(s)
The NQI Act established a National Quantum Coordination Office as well as a coordinated multiagency program to support research and training in QIS, encompassing activities at DOE, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). As the Nation’s leading supporter of basic research in physical sciences, the support of the NQI is a high priority for SC/DOE.
Specifically, the NQI called for DOE to carry out a basic research program in QIS and to establish and operate up to five National QIS Research Centers to accelerate scientific breakthroughs in quantum information science and technology. These centers will promote basic research and early stage development to accelerate advancement of QIS, and advance mission needs in communication, materials and chemistry, devices and sensors, and quantum computers.
The NQI Act also called for the President to establish a National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee (NQIAC). Under the NQI Act, NQIAC is to comprise members who are representative of industry, universities, and Federal laboratories and are qualified to provide advice and information on quantum information science and technology research, development, demonstrations, standards, education, technology transfer, commercial application, or national security and economic concerns. The President signed Executive Order (EO) 13885 establishing that the NQIAC be administered by DOE. Members of the NQIAC are appointed by the DOE Secretary, in consultation with the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. NQIAC shall advise the Secretary and the Subcommittee on QIS (SCQIS) of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and make recommendations to the Secretary to consider when reviewing and revising the NQI Program. DOE provides funding and administrative and technical support, as required. The SCQIS serves as the central interagency coordination across Executive Branch Agencies. DOE has close ties in QIS with other Agencies, including NSF, NIST, elements of the Department of Defense, and the Intelligence Community.
Status
QIS within SC is a long-term effort and since the initiation of SC’s investments in FY 2017, the approach taken is to include whole of SC and to invest in a wide scope in QIS.
All six core science programs below and the isotope program in SC are supporting research in QIS relevant to their missions but the investments of these standalone programs collectively make a significant impact on cross-cutting science areas: Fundamental Science, Quantum Computing, Quantum Communication, and Quantum Sensing.
- Advanced Science for Computing Research (ASCR)
- Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
- High Energy Physics (HEP)
- Nuclear Physics (NP)
DOE’s support for science at the National labs has been, and continues to be, instrumental to progress in QIS. For example, high energy physics groups at Fermilab, SLAC, Lawrence Berkeley, and Argonne have been developing QIS technology for sensing and data analysis. User facilities like the Basic Energy Sciences-managed Nanoscale Science Research Centers are providing expertise in the development of new materials, instrumentation for QIS R&D, as well as offering opportunities for synergies across the labs and with researchers supported by other agencies. The Oak Ridge Leadership Computing facility is providing DOE QIS researchers access to current commercial quantum cloud computers through their Quantum Computing User Program.
As DOE continues to establish its leadership in QIS, the DOE National Laboratories remain strongly invested in future QIS advances via awarded and planned efforts. The Laboratories bring their extensive resources and expertise to the field and, in some cases, supplement DOE’s investments with their internal initiatives.
Five of the DOE National Labs (Argonne, Brookhaven, Fermi, Lawrence Berkeley, and Oak Ridge) lead the National QIS Research Centers. These Centers constitute DOE’s largest investment to date in QIS and cross the technical breadth of SC. They span a wide scope within QIS that includes communication, computing/emulation, devices/ sensors, materials/chemistry and foundries, and address all levels of the QIS science and technology innovation chain from fundamental science to devices, systems, prototypes, and applications. The Centers combine the talents of universities, national labs, other federal agencies, and the private sector in concerted efforts to support rapid progress and economic advancement.
Developing a quantum internet is an Administration and a DOE priority with a goal to help accelerate scientific discovery in all SC domains. Over the past decade, there have been intense international efforts to advance the science of quantum communication and realizing the vision of a future quantum internet. One driving force is the global recognition that quantum communication has inherent security, grounded in fundamental principles of quantum physics and unattainable by today’s classical internet. Another driver is the accelerating development of peer quantum technologies, such as quantum computers that will simulate complex scientific processes inaccessible to current computational platforms, and quantum sensing that promises measurements of precision unobtainable today. Quantum networks are needed to connect quantum computers to classical computers, connect distributed quantum computers, integrate quantum sensing technology, and discover new science. Quantum communication research is in its infancy, and scientific advances are needed to develop and deploy this next-generation networking capability. In FY 2019, SC initiated a small research program to advance the field of quantum networking primarily focused on the development of quantum repeaters needed to support a terrestrial quantum internet. The Quantum Internet Blueprint recently released by DOE portrays a plan for the Quantum Internet Project (QuIP) to develop a secure, reliable backbone initially connecting the National QIS Research Centers and ultimately the DOE National Laboratories.
DOE is active in NSTC Subcommittees focused on QIS. Dr. Steve Binkley (SC Principal Deputy Director) is co-chair of both the Subcommittee on QIS and Subcommittee on Economic and Security Implications and Quantum Science. Representatives from ASCR and HEP participate in NSTC QIS Sub-Committee’s QNIWG (Quantum Network Interagency Working Group). Government activities and updates related to NQI are described in the National Quantum Coordination Office’s web-site: https://www.quantum.gov/. An overview of all SC QIS activities is consolidated in one public web- site: https://science.osti.gov/Initiatives/QIS which also provides access to all SC sponsored workshop reports.
Milestone(s)
In May 2019, SC released a request for information to solicit community input on the National QIS Research Centers. The feedback received on topical areas, collaboration, partnerships, and management was incorporated in the funding opportunity announcement issued on January 10, 2020. The selection of the five National QIS Research Centers was announced by Secretary Brouillette in a virtual event on August 26, 2020. The overall DOE program funding is up to $625 million over 5 years.
In October 2019, Google announced quantum supremacy which resulted from the collaboration of researchers from ORNL, Google, NASA and a number of academic institutions. ORNL’s Summit, the Nation’s fastest supercomputer, was used in this demonstration to compete with Google’s quantum computer Sycamore.
In February 2020, scientists from Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago entangled photons across a 52-mile network in the Chicago suburbs, an important step in developing a national quantum internet. Located at Argonne, the loop is among the longest land-based quantum networks in the nation and is seen as a foundational building block in the development of a quantum internet. Experts in quantum hardware, quantum communications, and traditional and novel networking and infrastructure, along with experienced photon science and detection
teams and materials scientists, came together in early February 2020 to develop a Blueprint for a Quantum Internet. The plan released in July 2020 is based on the experience and expertise of testbed networks established by ANL-FNAL-University of Chicago collaboration, and by BNL-Stony Brook University collaboration. Key steps for the future include forming Laboratory, academia and private sector collaborations for basic science, engineering, and technology development.
On August 28, 2020, the members of the NQIAC were announced. The NQIAC is co-chaired by Dr. Charles Tahan, OSTP Assistant Director for Quantum Information Science and Director of the National Quantum Coordination Office, and Dr. Kathryn Ann Moler, Dean of Research at Stanford University. The NQIAC held its inaugural meeting on October 27, 2020.
Major Decisions/Events
Pursuant to DOE O 413.3B, pending Critical Decision 0 approval, the next phase of DOE’s Quantum Internet Project will require the Deputy Secretary as the Acquisition Executive to approve the Alternatives Analysis (Critical Decision 1) by the end of FY2022 and the issuance of research and development contracts with competitively selected vendors (Critical Decision 3a).
Background
In October 2014, an Interagency Working Group on QIS was created under the Subcommittee on Physical Sciences of the NSTC’s Committee on Science to assess Federal programs in QIS, monitor the state of the field, provide a forum for interagency coordination and collaboration and engage in strategic planning of Federal QIS activities and investments. The Interagency Working Group was elevated to a standing Subcommittee of the NSTC in FY 2018, with the Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Science serving as a co-chair. Since 2014, the NSTC groups have produced a number of policy documents that address the Federal investment strategy:
- Advancing Quantum Information Science: National Challenges and Opportunities (2016)
- National Strategic Overview for Quantum Information Science (September 2018)
- A Strategic Vision for America’s Quantum Networks (February 2020)
- Artificial intelligence & Quantum Information Science R&D Summary: Fiscal Years 2020-2021 (August 2020)
- Quantum Frontiers: Report on Community Input to the Nation’s Strategy for Quantum Information Science (October 2020)
Starting in early 2014, SC’s ASCR, HEP, BES, and NP program offices conducted a series of workshops and roundtable discussions to engage their communities in the development of a SC QIS strategy. FES conducted a similar roundtable in 2018. These community engagements led to investments beginning in FY 2017 by ASCR’s launch of two QIS programs, one focused on quantum applications and algorithms and the second on quantum testbeds. Since FY2017, QIS has become a major initiative within DOE with programs of varying sizes being initiated by HEP, BES, BER, FES, and NP that support a wide scope of research in QIS.
Definitions
Quantum Information Science (QIS)
The study of the ways in which uniquely quantum phenomena such as superposition, entanglement, and squeezing can be harnessed to obtain, process, and transmit process in ways that cannot be achieved based on classical behavior.
Quantum computing
The study of theoretical computing systems that use quantum-mechanical phenomena to perform operations on data. Large-scale quantum computers would theoretically be able to solve certain problems much more quickly than classical computers.