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AMERICAN LEADERSHIP 

IN QUANTUM TECHNOLOGY 

JOINT HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY 

& 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND 

TECHNOLOGY 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

OCTOBER 24, 2017 

Serial No. 115–32 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

HON. LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas, Chair 

FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois 

BILL POSEY, Florida 

THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky 

JIM BRIDENSTINE, Oklahoma 

RANDY K. WEBER, Texas 

STEPHEN KNIGHT, California 

BRIAN BABIN, Texas 

BARBARA COMSTOCK, Virginia 

BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia 

RALPH LEE ABRAHAM, Louisiana 

DRAIN LAHOOD, Illinois 

DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida 

JIM BANKS, Indiana 

ANDY BIGGS, Arizona 

ROGER W. MARSHALL, Kansas 

NEAL P. DUNN, Florida 

CLAY HIGGINS, Louisiana 

RALPH NORMAN, South Carolina 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

AMI BERA, California 

ELIZABETH H. ESTY, Connecticut 

MARC A. VEASEY, Texas 

DONALD S. BEYER, JR., Virginia 

JACKY ROSEN, Nevada 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado 

PAUL TONKO, New York 

BILL FOSTER, Illinois 

MARK TAKANO, California 

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Hawaii 

CHARLIE CRIST, Florida 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY

HON. BARBARA COMSTOCK, Virginia, Chair 

FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma 

RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois 

STEPHEN KNIGHT, California 

DARIN LAHOOD, Illinois 

RALPH LEE ABRAHAM, Louisiana 

DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida 

JIM BANKS, Indiana 

ROGER W. MARSHALL, Kansas 

LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

ELIZABETH H. ESTY, Connecticut 

JACKY ROSEN, Nevada 

SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon 

AMI BERA, California 

DONALD S. BEYER, JR., Virginia 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY

HON. RANDY K. WEBER, Texas, Chair 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois 

THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky 

JIM BRIDENSTINE, Oklahoma 

STEPHEN KNIGHT, California, Vice Chair 

DRAIN LAHOOD, Illinois 

DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida 

NEAL P. DUNN, Florida 

LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas 

MARC A. VEASEY, Texas, Ranking Member 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

JACKY ROSEN, Nevada 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

PAUL TONKO, New York 

JACKY ROSEN, Nevada 

BILL FOSTER, Illinois 

AMI BERA, California 

MARK TAKANO, California 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

October 24, 2017 

Page 

Witness List ............................................................................................................. 2 

Hearing Charter ...................................................................................................... 3 

Opening Statements 

Statement by Representative Lamar S. Smith, Chairman, Committee on 

Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ..................... 5 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 7 

Statement by Representative Barbara Comstock, Chairwoman, Subcommittee 

on Research and Technology, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 

U.S. House of Representatives ............................................................................ 9 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 11 

Statement by Representative Daniel Lipinski, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Research and Technology, Committee on Science, Space, and 

Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ....................................................... 13 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 15 

Statement by Representative Randy K. Weber, Chairman, Subcommittee on 

Energy, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ........................................................................................................... 17 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 19 

Statement by Representative Marc A. Veasey, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Energy, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. 

House of Representatives .................................................................................... 21 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 23 

Statement by Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, Ranking Member, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives .... 25 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 26 

Witnesses: 

Panel I 

Dr. Carl J. Williams, Acting Director, Physical Measurement Laboratory, 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 27 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 30 

Dr. Jim Kurose, Assistant Director, Computer and Information Science and 

Engineering Directorate, National Science Foundation 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 37 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 39 

Dr. John Stephen Binkley, Acting Director of Science, U.S. Department of 

Energy 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 52 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 54 

Discussion ................................................................................................................. 70 
Page

IV 

Panel II 

Dr. Scott Crowder, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Quantum 

Computing, IBM Systems Group 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 90 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 92 

Dr. Christopher Monroe, Distinguished University Professor & Bice Zorn 

Professor, Department of Physics, University of Maryland; Founder and 

Chief Scientist, IonQ, Inc. 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 101 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 103 

Dr. Supratik Guha, Director, Nanoscience and Technology Division, Argonne 

National Laboratory; Professor, Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 115 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 117 

Discussion ................................................................................................................. 125
(1) 

AMERICAN LEADERSHIP IN QUANTUM 

TECHNOLOGY 

Tuesday, October 24, 2017 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY AND

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY, 

Washington, D.C. 

The Subcommittees met, pursuant to call, at 10:06 a.m., in Room 

2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Barbara Comstock [Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Research and Technology] presiding. 
2 

LAMA A S. SMITH, Texas 

CHAIRMAN 

ttongrrss of th£ tlnttrd ~tatrs 

Jtonsc of 'Rcprmcntatiocs 

COMMITIEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

2321 RAYBURN HOUSE OfFICE BUILDING 

WASHINGTON, DC 20515-6301 

(202) 225-6371 

www.sciance.housa gov 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Tax.as 

RANKING MEMBER 

American Leadership in Quantum Technology 

Panel I: 

Tuesday, October 24, 2017 

!O:OOa.m. 

2318 Rayburn House Office Building 

Witnesses 

Dr. Carl J. Williams, Acting Director, Physical Measurement Laboratory, National 

Institute of Standards and Technology 

Dr. Jim Kurose, Assistant Director, Computer and Infmmation Science and Engineering 

Directorate, National Science Foundation 

Dr. John Stephen Binkley, Acting Director of Science, U.S. Department of Energy 

Panel II: 

Dr. Scott Crowder, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Quantum 

Computing, IBM 

Dr. Christopher Monroe, Distinguished University Professor & Bice Zorn Professor, 

Department of Physics, University of Maryland; Founder and Chief Scientist, IonQ, Inc. 

Dr. Supratik Guha, Director, Nanosciencc and Technology Division, Argonne National 

Laboratory; Professor, Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago 
3 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

HEARING CHARTER 

October 17,2017 

TO: Members, Subcommittee on Research and Technology & Subcommittee on Energy 

FROM: Majority Staff, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

SUBJECT: Joint Subcommittee Hearing: "American Leadership in Quantum Technology" 

The Subcommittee on Research and Technology and the Subcommittee on Energy of the 

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology will hold a joint hearing titled American 

Leadership in Quantum Technology on Tuesday, October 24,2017, at 10:00 a.m. in Room 2318 

of the Rayburn House Office Building. 

Hearing Purpose: 

The hearing will identify where the U.S. currently stands in the international race to the 

development of commercially available quantum-based technologies, particularly quantum 

computing. In addition, this hearing will focus on the research and development currently 

supported by both the government and private sector, provide feedback on what more can be 

done to improve efforts in quantum information science and engineering, how to effectively train 

a workforce to prepare for this next generation of technology, and how to successfully compete 

with other countries. 

Witness List 

Panel I: 

• Dr. Carl J. Williams, Acting Director, Physical Measurement Laboratory, National 

Institute of Standards and Technology 

• Dr. Jim Kurose, Assistant Director, Computer and Information Science and Engineering 

Directorate, National Science Foundation 

• Dr. John Stephen Binkley, Acting Director of Science, U.S. Department of Energy 

Panel2: 

• Dr. Scott Crowder, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Quantum 

Computing, IBM Systems Group 

• Dr. Christopher Monroe, Distinguished University Professor & Bice Zorn Professor, 

Department of Physics, University of Maryland; Founder and Chief Scientist, IonQ, Inc. 

• Dr. Supratik Guha, Director, Nanoseience and Technology Division, Argonne National 

Laboratory; Professor, Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago 
4 

Staff Contact 

For questions related to the hearing, please eontaet Sarah Jorgenson of the Majority Staff 

at 202-225-6371. 
5 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. The Committee on Science, Space and 

Technology will come to order. 

Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare recesses of 

the Committee at any time. 

Good morning, and welcome to today’s joint hearing titled ‘‘American Leadership in Quantum Technology.’’ Due to a scheduling conflict, I would like to first recognize the Chairman of the full Committee for a statement, Mr. Smith. 

Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and let me 

explain, I have a Judiciary markup. Otherwise I would be happy 

to wait my turn, but I appreciate your deferring to me. 

The technology that we will review today is complex but it has 

the potential to revolutionize computing and to strengthen or undermine our future economic and national security. 

Quantum technology can completely transform many areas of 

science and a wide array of technologies including sensors, lasers, 

material science, GPS, and much more. 

Quantum computers have the potential to solve complex problems that are beyond the scope of today’s most powerful supercomputers. Quantum-enabled data analytics can revolutionize the development of new medicines and materials and assure security for 

sensitive information, but even Bill Gates finds quantum technology to be challenging. He reportedly said, ‘‘I know a lot about 

physics and a lot of math. But the one place where they put up 

slides and it is hieroglyphics, it’s quantum.’’ 

We are fortunate this morning to be able to learn from expert 

witnesses who thoroughly understand and can explain in plain 

English all of quantum’s complexities. How is that for a setup? 

Although the United States retains global leadership in the theoretical physics that underpins quantum computing and related 

technologies, we may be slipping behind others in developing the 

quantum applications, programming know-how, development of national security and commercial applications. 

Just last year, Chinese scientists successfully sent the first-ever 

quantum transmission from Earth to an orbiting satellite. A team 

of Japanese scientists recently invented an approach that apparently boosts calculating speed and efficiency in quantum computing. And European research teams are focusing on training 

quantum computer programmers and developing essential software. 

What if the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of quantum computing are 

from Germany? 

According to a 2015 McKinsey report, 7,000 scientists worldwide, 

with a combined budget of about $1.5 billion, worked on non-classified quantum technology. Of these totals, the United States’ estimated annual spending on non-classified quantum-technology research was the largest. But China, Germany and Canada were 

close behind. We need to continue to invest in basic research. 

We must also take steps to ensure that we have the workforce 

that the future will demand. The Bureau of Labor Statistics 

projects that employment in computer occupations will increase by 

12.5 percent, or nearly a half-million new jobs, by 2024. That is 

more than any other STEM field. But future jobs in engineering, 
6 

health sciences and all of the natural sciences will require computing and electronic information skills. 

The United States must also cultivate a new generation of visionary entrepreneurs and additional millions of scientists, engineers, 

designers, programmers and technicians who can compete in quantum-enabled technologies and other emerging fields. 

I thank our witnesses today for testifying on this important topic. 

I look forward to their testimony on the current state of quantum 

research and their recommendations about how to improve efforts 

in this area. 

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and I yield back. 

[The prepared statement of Chairman Smith follows:] 
7 

For Immediate Release 

October 24,2017 

Media Contacts: Thea McDonald, Brandon VerVelde 

(202) 225-6371 

Statement from Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) 

American Leadership in Quantum Technology 

Chairman Smith: Good morning. The technology that we will review today is complex, 

but it has the potential to revolutionize computing and to strengthen or undermine our 

future economic and national security. 

Quantum technology can completely transform many areas of science and a wide 

array of technologies, including sensors, lasers, materials science, GPS, and much 

more. 

Quantum computers have the potential to solve complex problems that are beyond 

the scope of today's most powerful supercomputers. 

Quantum-enabled data analytics can revolutionize the development of new 

medicines and materials and assure security for sensitive information. 

But even Bill Gates finds quantum technology to be challenging. He reportedly said, "I 

know a lot of physics and a lot of math. But the one place where they put up slides 

and it is hieroglyphics, it's quantum." 

We are fortunate this morning to be able to learn from expert witnesses who 

thoroughly understand and can explain in plain English all of quantum's complexities. 

Although the United States retains global leadership in the theoretical physics that 

underpins quantum computing and related technologies, we may be slipping behind 

others in developing the quantum applications- programming know-how, 

development of national security and commercial applications. 

Just last year, Chinese scientists successfully sent the first-ever quantum transmission 

from Earth to an orbiting satellite. 

A team of Japanese scientists recently invented an approach that apparently boosts 

calculating speed and efficiency in quantum computing. 

European research teams are focusing on training quantum computer programmers 

and developing essential software. 
8 

What if the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of quantum computing are from Germany? 

According to a 2015 McKinsey report, about 7,000 scientists worldwide, with a 

combined budget of about $1.5 billion, worked on non-classified quantum 

technology. 

Of those totals, the United States' estimated annual spending on non-classified 

quantum-technology research was the largest. But China, Germany and Canada 

were close behind. 

We need to continue to invest in basic research. We must also take steps to ensure 

that we have the workforce that the future will demand. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment in computer occupations will 

increase by 12.5 percent, or nearly a half-million new jobs, by 2024. This is more than in 

any other STEM field. 

But future jobs in engineering, health sciences and all of the natural sciences will 

require computing and electronic information skills. 

The United States must also cultivate a new generation of visionary entrepreneurs and 

additional millions of scientists, engineers, designers, programmers and technicians 

who can compete in quantum-enabled technologies and other emerging fields. 

I thank our witnesses today for testifying on this important topic. I look forward to their 

testimony on the current state of quantum research and their recommendations 

about how to improve efforts in this area. 

### 
9 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

And I now recognize myself for a five minute opening statement. 

Good morning, and I think if Bill Gates is intimidated by this 

topic, the rest of us mere mortals are very indebted to our expert 

witnesses today, so thank you for joining us. 

The topic of this morning’s hearing, ‘‘American Leadership in 

Quantum Technology,’’ is important to our national security, global 

competitiveness and technological innovation. This hearing will 

provide us with a view of U.S. and other nations’ research and development efforts to develop quantum computing and related technology. It will also identify what, if more, can be done to boost efforts. 

R&D in information technology provides a greater understanding 

of how to protect essential systems and networks that support fundamental sectors of our economy, from emergency communications 

and power grids to air-traffic control networks and national defense 

systems. This kind of R&D works to prevent or minimize disruptions to critical information infrastructure, to protect public and 

private services, to detect and respond to threats while mitigating 

the severity of and assisting in the recovery from those threats, in 

an effort to support a more stable and secure nation. As technology 

rapidly advances, the need for research and development continues 

to evolve. 

At the same time, I am hoping that we are preventing any duplicative and overlapping R&D efforts, thereby enabling more efficient 

use of government resources and taxpayer dollars. 

Considering the significant increase in global interconnectedness 

enabled by the internet, and with it, increased cybersecurity attacks, the potential security and offensive advantage that quantum 

computing and quantum encryption may provide is more essential 

than ever. 

Research in advanced materials and computer science continues 

to push the envelope of classical computing power and speed. Developments in quantum information science have raised the prospects of a new computing architecture: quantum computing. I am 

looking forward to our witnesses explaining more about this architecture, including superposition and interconnectivity. 

As difficult as the underlying science is for many of us to understand, it is easier to understand how quantum computing can 

change the world by revolutionizing the encoding of electronic information and supporting data analytics powerful enough to solve 

currently complicated or inexplicable problems. In today’s hearing, 

I hope we are able to learn more about how quantum technology 

will revolutionize computing and how to promote continued technological leadership in the United States. 

I am also looking forward to learning how industry and others 

are engaged. As noted in a 2015 PCAST report, ‘‘Today’s advances 

rest on a strong base of research and development created over 

many years of government and private investment. Because of 

these investments, the United States has a vibrant academia-industry-government ecosystem to support research and innovation 

in IT and to bring the results into practical use.’’ 

It is clear that focusing our investments on information technology research and development is important to our nation for a 
10 

variety of reasons, including economic prosperity, national security, 

U.S. competitiveness, and quality of life. 

I look forward to the hearing. 

[The prepared statement of Chairwoman Comstock follows:] 
11 

For Immediate Release 

October 24, 2017 

s 

Media Contacts: Thea McDonald, Brandon VerVelde 

(202) 225-6371 

Statement from Chairwoman Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) 

American Leadership in Quantum Technology 

Chairwoman Comstock: Good morning. I want to welcome everyone here today. The 

topic of this morning's hearing, American Leadership in Quantum Technology, is 

important to our national security, global competitiveness and technological 

innovation. 

This hearing will provide us with a view of U.S. and other nations' research and 

development efforts to develop quantum computing and related technology. It will 

also identify what, if more, can be done to boost efforts within the United States. 

R&D in information technology provides a greater understanding of how to protect 

essential systems and networks that support fundamental sectors of our economy, 

from emergency communications and power grids to air-traffic control networks and 

national defense systems. 

This kind of R&D works to prevent or minimize disruptions to critical information 

infrastructure, to protect public and private services, to detect and respond to threats 

while mitigating the severity of and assisting in the recovery from those threats, in an 

effort to support a more stable and secure nation. 

As technology rapidly advances, the need for research and development continues 

to evolve. At the same time, I am hoping that we are preventing any duplicative and 

overlapping R&D efforts, thereby enabling more efficient use of government resources 

and taxpayer dollars. 

Considering the significant increase in global interconnectedness enabled by the 

Internet, and with it, increased cybersecurity attacks, the potential security and 

offensive advantage that quantum computing and quantum encryption may provide 

is more essential than ever. 

Research in advanced materials and computer science continues to push the 

envelope of classical computing power and speed. Developments in quantum 

information science have raised the prospects of a new computing architecture 

quantum computing. I am looking forward to our witnesses explaining more about this 

architecture, including superposition and interconnectivity. 
12 

As difficult as the underlying science is for many people to understand, it is easier to 

understand how quantum computing can change the world by revolutionizing the 

encoding of electronic information and supporting data analytics powerful enough to 

solve currently complicated or inexplicable problems. 

I am excited for today's hearing, and I hope we are able to learn more about how 

quantum technology will revolutionize computing and how to promote continued 

technological leadership in the United States. I am also looking forward to learning 

how industry and others are engaged. As noted in a 2015 PCAST report, "Today's 

advances rest on a strong base of research and development created over many 

years of government and private investment. Because of these investments, the United 

States has a vibrant academia-industry-government ecosystem to support research 

and innovation in IT and to bring the results into practical use." 

It is clear that focusing our investments on information technology research and 

development is important to our nation for a variety of reasons, including economic 

prosperity, national security, U.S. competitiveness, and quality of life. I look forward to 

hearing from each of our witnesses on this important topic. Thank you for being here. 

### 
13 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. And I now will yield to the Ranking 

Member, Mr. Lipinski, for his opening statement. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. Thank you, Chairwoman Comstock and Chairman 

Weber, for calling this hearing. 

The last time this Committee focused on quantum technology 

was in 2000 when a hearing was held on quantum and molecular 

computing. The state of the science and technology has come a long 

way since then, and so has the international competition. 

The underlying theory of quantum mechanics began to take 

shape in the 1920s. The first accurate atomic clock was built in the 

1950s. It wasn’t labeled as a quantum technology, but it took advantage of the quantum phenomenon known as superposition. 

Physicist Richard Feynman first mused about the possibility of 

quantum computers in 1981. In 1994, mathematician Peter Shor 

developed the first efficient algorithm for a quantum computer, 

demonstrating that quantum computing, when it arrived, would 

topple our current system of public-key encryption. Until then, 

quantum information science was still largely the purview of physics departments. 

In the years following Shor’s breakthrough, quantum information 

science became increasingly interdisciplinary, attracting scientists 

and engineers from diverse fields. 

As we will hear from the witnesses today, quantum information 

science is at another significant turning point. Publications and 

patent applications are on the rise. Small companies are being 

formed. Major companies such as IBM, Google, and Microsoft are 

accelerating their investments in quantum-enabled technology. 

I want to highlight in particular the research partnership of the 

University of Chicago, Argonne National Lab, and Fermi National 

Accelerator Lab, which has been dubbed the Chicago Quantum Exchange. As we will hear from Dr. Guha, the Exchange was created 

to develop and grow interdisciplinary collaborations for the exploration and development of new quantum-enabled technologies, and 

to help educate a new generation of quantum information scientists 

and engineers. Partnership with the private sector is also an important element of the Exchange. The Chicago Quantum Exchange 

may be a model for the future of R&D in quantum information 

science. 

With respect to practical applications, the market for quantum 

sensing and metrology is very close to taking off. Technology developers envision a future in which quantum sensors eliminate the 

need to use GPS satellites for navigation, can be embedded in 

buildings to measure stress, can be woven into clothing to monitor 

vital signs, and can even be injected into our blood to help diagnose 

disease. 

Another practical application is quantum communications. This 

is an ultra secure method that uses quantum principles to encode 

and distribute critical information, like encryption keys, and will 

reveal if they were intercepted by a third party in transit. Multiple 

countries are investing heavily in this technology, which may be 

next in line for the commercial market. The world especially took 

note of China’s launch of a quantum-enabled prototype communications satellite last year. 
14 

Quantum computing may be further from becoming a reality, but 

the potential applications for both science and the commercial market are mind-boggling. These are exciting technologies. They also 

open the door to important policy discussions. 

As other countries are increasing their investments in quantum 

technology, in some cases guided by long-term strategies, now is 

the time for the U.S. to start developing a more coherent strategy 

of our own. We must consider the scale, scope and nature of federal 

investments, how best to facilitate and strengthen partnerships 

with the private sector, and the education and workforce training 

that will be required to power a quantum revolution. I have no 

doubt other important policy issues will emerge in this hearing, including, importantly, the impact on cybersecurity. 

I hope this hearing is followed by additional hearings in this 

Congress and the coming years that more deeply explore specific 

technologies and policy implications. In the meantime, I look forward to today’s introduction to quantum information science and 

technology. 

I thank all of the witnesses for being here this morning to share 

your expertise, and I yield back the balance of my time. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Lipinski follows:] 
15 

OPENING STATEMENT 

Ranking Member Daniel Lipinski (D-IL) 

of the Subcommittee on Research and Technology 

House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

Subcommittee on Research and Technology 

Subcommittee on Energy 

"American Leadership in Quantum Technology" 

October 24, 2017 

Thank you Chairwoman Comstock and Chairman Weber for calling this hearing. The last time 

this Committee focused on quantum technology was in 2000 when a hearing was held on 

quantum and molecular computing. The state of the science and technology has come a long 

way since then. So has the international competition. 

The underlying theory of quantum mechanics began to take shape in the 1920s. The first 

accurate atomic clock was built in the 1950s. It wasn't labeled as a quantum technology, but it 

took advantage of the quantum phenomenon known as superposition. Physicist Richard 

Feynman first mused about the possibility of quantum computers in 1981. In 1994, 

mathematician Peter Shor developed the first efficient algorithm for a quantum computer, 

demonstrating that quantum computing, when it arrived, would topple our current system of 

public-key encryption. Until then, quantum information science was still largely the purview of 

physics departments. In the years following Shor's breakthrough, quantum information science 

became increasingly interdisciplinary, attracting scientists and engineers from diverse fields. 

As we will hear from the witnesses today, quantum information science is at another significant 

turning point. Publications and patent applications are on the rise. Small companies are being 

formed. Major companies such as IBM, Google, and Microsoft are accelerating their 

investments in quantum-enabled technology. I want to highlight in particular the research 

partnership of the University of Chicago, Argonne National Lab, and Fermi National Accelerator 

Lab, which has been dubbed the "Chicago Quantum Exchange." As we will hear from Dr. Guha, 

the Exchange was created to develop and grow interdisciplinary collaborations for the 

exploration and development of new quantum-enabled technologies, and to help educate a new 

generation of quantum information scientists and engineers. Partnership with the private sector 

is also an important element of the Exchange. The Chicago Quantum Exchange may be a model 

for the future of R&D in quantum information science. 

With respect to practical applications, the market for quantum sensing and metrology is very 

close to taking off. Technology developers envision a future in which quantum sensors eliminate 

the need to use GPS satellites for navigation, can be embedded in buildings to measure stress, 

can be woven into clothing to monitor vital signs, and can even be injected into our blood to help 

diagnose disease. Another practical application is quantum communications. This is an ultrasecure method that uses quantum principles to encode and distribute critical information, like 

encryption keys, and will reveal if they were intercepted by a third party in transit. Multiple 

countries are investing heavily in this technology, which may be next in line for the commercial 

market. The world especially took note of China's launch of a quantum-enabled prototype 
16 

communications satellite last year. Quantum computing may be further from becoming a reality, 

but the potential applications for both science and the commercial market are mind-boggling. 

These are exciting technologies. They also open the door to important policy discussions. 

As other countries are increasing their investments in quantum technology, in some cases guided 

by long-term strategies, now is the time for the U.S. to start developing a more coherent strategy 

of our own. We must consider the scale, scope and nature of federal investments, how best to 

facilitate and strengthen partnerships with the private sector, and the education and workforce 

training that will be required to power a quantum revolution. I have no doubt other important 

policy issues will emerge in this hearing, including, importantly, the impact on cybersecurity. I 

hope this hearing is followed by additional hearings in this Congress and the coming years that 

more deeply explore specific technologies and policy implications. In the meantime, I look 

forward to today's introduction to quantum information science and technology. 

I thank all of the witnesses for being here this morning to share your expertise, and I yield back. 
17 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you, and I now recognize the 

Chairman of the Energy Subcommittee, Mr. Weber, for his opening 

statement. 

Mr. WEBER. Thank you, ma’am. 

Good morning and welcome to today’s joint Research and Technology and Energy Subcommittee hearing. Today, we will hear 

from a panel of experts on the status of America’s research in 

quantum technology, a field positioned to fundamentally change 

the way we move and process data. Hearings like today’s help remind us of the Science Committee’s core focus: the basic research 

that provides the foundation for technology breakthroughs. Before 

America ever sees the commercial deployment of a quantum computer, a lot of discovery science must be accomplished. 

Quantum technology has the potential to completely reshape our 

scientific landscape. I’m not going to attempt to explain quantum 

computing to you all; I’ll leave that to the experts here today. But 

theoretically, quantum computing could allow for the solution of exponentially large problems, things that cannot be accomplished by 

even the fastest supercomputers today. It could allow us to visualize the structures of complex chemicals and materials, to model 

highly detailed flows of potential mass evacuations with precise accuracy, and to quantify subatomic interactions on the cutting edge 

of nuclear research. 

Quantum computing may also have profound implications for cybersecurity technology. With China and Russia focusing their efforts on quantum encryption, which could allow for 100 percent secure communications, it is absolutely imperative that the United 

States maintain its leadership in this field. 

In order to achieve this kind of revolutionary improvement in 

technology, we are going to need foundational knowledge in the advanced computing and materials science required to construct 

quantum systems. For example, quantum hardware must be 

equipped to completely isolate quantum processors from outside 

forces. 

Further, because quantum computing differs from today’s methods at the most basic level, quantum algorithms must be built from 

the ground up. Support for basic research in computer science and 

for computational partnerships between industry, academia, and 

the national labs is necessary to develop algorithms needed for future commercial quantum systems. 

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science is the leading 

federal sponsor of basic research in the physical sciences, and funds 

robust quantum technology research. At Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the National Energy Research Scientific Computing 

Center allows scientists to run simulations of quantum architectures. At Argonne National Lab’s Center for Nanoscale Materials, 

researchers study atomic-scale materials in order to engineer the 

characteristics of quantum information systems. And at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, scientists are applying their experience in high-energy physics to the study of quantum materials. 

DOE must prioritize this kind of ground breaking basic research 

over grants for technology that is ready for commercial deployment. 

When the government steps in to push today’s technology into the 

market, it actually competes against private investors and uses 
18 

limited resources to do so. But when the government supports basic 

research, everyone has the opportunity to access the fundamental 

knowledge that can lead to the development of future technologies. 

I want to thank our accomplished panel of witnesses for testifying today, and I look forward to a productive discussion about the 

future of American quantum technology research. I think I speak 

for my fellow members when I say that this is a complex topic, and 

Congress will need to rely on experts like you all to chart the 

course for quantum technologies. 

I thank the Chair, and I yield back. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Weber follows:] 
19 

For Immediate Release 

October 24, 2017 

s 

Media Contacts: Thea McDonald, Brandon VerVelde 

(202) 225-6371 

Statement from Chairman Randy Weber (R-Texas) 

American Leadership in Quantum Technology 

Chairman Weber: Good morning and welcome to today's Joint Research and 

Technology and Energy Subcommittee hearing. Today, we will hear from a panel of 

experts on the status of America's research in quantum technology, a field positioned 

to fundamentally change the way we move and process data. 

Hearings like today's help remind us of the Science Committee's core focus the 

basic research that provides the foundation for technology breakthroughs. Before 

America ever sees the commercial deployment of a quantum computer, a lot of 

discovery science must be accomplished. 

Quantum technology has the potential to completely reshape our scientific 

landscape. I won't attempt to explain quantum computing to you. I'll leave that to 

the experts here today. 

But theoretically, quantum computing could allow for the solution of exponentially 

large problems- things that cannot be accomplished by even the fastest 

supercomputers today. It could allow us to visualize the structures of complex 

chemicals and materials, to model highly detailed flows of potential mass evacuations 

with precise accuracy, and to quantify subatomic interactions on the cutting edge of 

nuclear research. 

Quantum computing may also have profound implications for cybersecurity 

technology. 

With China and Russia focusing their efforts on quantum encryption. which could allow 

for 100% secure communications. it is imperative that the U.S. maintain its leadership in 

this field. 

In order to achieve this kind of revolutionary improvement in technology, we're going 

to need foundational knowledge in the advanced computing and materials science 

required to construct quantum systems. For example. quantum hardware must be 

equipped to completely isolate quantum processors from outside forces. 
20 

Further, because quantum computing differs from today's methods at the most basic 

level, quantum algorithms must be built from the ground up. 

Support for basic research in computer science and for computational partnerships 

between industry, academia, and the national labs is necessary to develop algorithms 

needed for future commercial quantum systems. 

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science is the leading federal sponsor of 

basic research in the physical sciences, and funds robust quantum technology 

research. At Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the National Energy Research Scientific 

Computing Center (NERSC) allows scientists to run simulations of quantum 

architectures. At Argonne National Lab's Center for Nanoscale Materials, researchers 

study atomic-scale materials in order to engineer the characteristics of quantum 

information systems. 

And at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory scientists are applying their experience 

in high energy physics to the study of quantum materials. 

DOE must prioritize this kind of ground breaking basic research over grants for 

technology that is ready for commercial deployment. When the government steps in 

to push today' s technology into the market, it competes against private investors and 

uses limited resources to do so. 

But when the government supports basic research, everyone has the opportunity to 

access the fundamental knowledge that can lead to the development of future 

technologies. 

I want to thank our accomplished panel of witnesses for testifying today, and I look 

forward to a productive discussion about the future of American quantum technology 

research. I think I speak for my fellow members when I say this is a complex topic, and 

Congress will need to rely on experts like you to chart the course for quantum 

technologies. 

### 
21 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you. And I now recognize the 

Ranking Member of the Energy Subcommittee, Mr. Veasey, for his 

opening statement. 

Mr. VEASEY. Thank you, Chairwoman Comstock and Chairman 

Weber, for holding this hearing, and thank you to the witnesses. 

I really appreciate you being here today. As was mentioned, this 

is a very complex topic, and you being here, providing your expertise, I think is going to come in very handy today. 

Quantum technologies have the potential to solve problems that 

were previously out of reach and push scientific discovery to new 

levels. A major breakthrough in this area could result in a significant transformation in our communications systems, computational 

methods, and even how we understand the world we live in. 

In addition to the distinguished group of researchers on our second panel, I am also delighted that we will hear from many of the 

most important federal agencies that lead our nation’s research in 

this very important field. I hope this becomes a practice that we 

can expect for every relevant hearing this committee holds. The activities within the federal government that support the development of quantum technologies cut across many agencies, as we will 

see by those testifying on the first panel. 

I should note that in addition to NIST, NSF, and DOE, there are 

also a number of quantum-related activities taking place within the 

Department of Defense in DARPA and the military branches, as 

well as within the intelligence community. 

In 2016, the Obama Administration published an interagency 

working group report that highlighted the need for continued investment across all these federal agencies. It also called for stronger coordination and focused activities to address the impediments 

to progress in this field. Congress has provided consistent funding 

for these activities, though I would note that in order to compete 

with countries like China, Japan, Canada, and Italy, we will need 

to grow the investments that we are already making. 

Sadly, as we have come to expect with every hearing this Committee holds highlighting an important area of research, you can 

trust that the Trump Administration has proposed making cuts. 

Vital research in quantum materials is happening within the Department of Energy’s Basic Energy Sciences program, and yet this 

year the Trump Administration has proposed to cut this critical 

program by $295 million, or 16 percent. While the Advanced Scientific Computing Research Program saw a slight increase in funding, most of that increase was to the exascale computing project. 

The research portfolio within this program that would actually support advancements in quantum computing saw a 15 percent cut in 

the budget proposal released earlier this year. This is not, this is 

not a path towards any sort of technological breakthroughs or 

quantum leaps. 

I would be remiss not to mention the Energy Frontier Research 

Centers also. The centers have generally enjoyed bipartisan support since the Obama Administration launched these innovative research collaborations across our national labs, universities, and industries. A few of these centers do important work that has the potential to advance our understanding of quantum technologies. 

They may provide us the breakthroughs we need to launch this 
22 

field to new heights. While the Trump Administration also proposed cuts to these centers, I hope and expect my colleagues in 

Congress will continue to voice our strong support for researchers 

and their vital work. Strong and sustained investment across our 

research and innovation ecosystem is the only way we can expect 

to see results from our world-class researchers at our national labs, 

universities, and private companies. Quantum technologies are certainly no different in that regard. 

I look forward to hearing from both panels today on where this 

field can take us and what exciting new possibilities are on the horizon. 

Thank you again, Madame Chair, and I’d like to yield back the 

balance of my time. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Veasey follows:] 
23 

OPENING STATEMENT 

Ranking Member Marc Veasey (D-TX) 

of the Subcommittee on Energy 

House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

Subcommittee on Research and Technology 

Subcommittee on Energy 

"American Leadership in Quantum Technology" 

October 24,2017 

Thank you Chairwoman Comstock and Chairman Weber for holding this hearing, and thank you 

to the witnesses for being here today. Quantum technologies have the potential to solve 

problems that were previously out of reach and push scientific discovery to new levels. A major 

breakthrough in this area could result in a significant transformation in our communications 

systems, computational methods, and even how we understand our world. In addition to the 

distinguished group of researchers on our second panel, I am also delighted that we will hear 

from many of the most important federal agencies that lead our nation's research in this field. 

hope this becomes a practice that we can expect for every relevant hearing this committee holds. 

The activities within the federal government that support the development of quantum 

technologies cut across many agencies, as we will see by those testifying on our first panel. 

should note that in addition to NIST, NSF, and DOE, there are also a number of quantum-related 

activities taking place within the Department of Defense in DARPA and the military branches, as 

well as within the intelligence community. In 2016, the Obama Administration published an 

interagency working group report that highlighted the need for continued investment across these 

federal agencies. It also called for stronger coordination and focused activities to address the 

impediments to progress in this field. 

Our work here in Congress has provided consistent funding for these activities, though I would 

note that in order to compete with countries like China, Japan, Canada, and Italy, we will need to 

grow the investments that we are already making. Sadly, as we have come to expect with every 

hearing this Committee holds highlighting an important area of research, you can trust that the 

Trump Administration has proposed to cut it. Vital research in quantum materials is happening 

within the Department of Energy's Basic Energy Sciences program, and yet this year the Trump 

Administration has proposed to cut this critical program by $295 million or 16%. While the 

Advanced Scientific Computing Research Program saw a slight increase in funding, most of that 

increase was to the exascale computing project. The research portfolio within this program that 

would actually support advancements in quantum computing saw a 15% cut in the budget 

proposal released earlier this year. This is not the path towards a technological breakthrough or 

quantum leaps. 

I would be remiss not to mention the Energy Frontier Research Centers. The centers have 

generally enjoyed bipartisan support since the Obama Administration launched these innovative 

research collaborations across our national labs, universities, and industry. A few of these 
24 

centers do important work that has the potential to advance our understanding of quantum 

technologies. They may just provide us the breakthroughs we need to launch this field to new 

heights. While the Trump Administration also proposed cuts to these centers, I hope and expect 

my colleagues in Congress will continue our strong support for the researchers and their vital 

work. Strong, sustained investment across our research and innovation ecosystem is the only 

way we can expect to see results from our world-class researchers at our national labs, 

universities, and private companies. Quantum technologies are certainly no different in that 

regard. 

I am looking forward to hearing from both panels today on where this field can take us and what 

exciting new possibilities are on the horizon. Thank you again, Madame Chair, and I yield back 

the balance of my time. 
25 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you, and I now recognize the 

Ranking Member of the full Committee for a statement, Mrs. Johnson. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much, and good morning. I really 

appreciate you for holding this important hearing, and I want to 

thank the witnesses for being here today. 

Quantum technology is an emerging field that will likely have a 

large impact on our nation’s competitiveness in the industries of tomorrow. Its current and potential applications are frankly too numerous to mention, as they range from enabling vast improvements 

in our ability to discover and develop new pharmaceuticals to ensuring the security of our most critical infrastructure. So, as the 

Committee of the future, this is exactly the kind of area that we 

should be focusing our attention on, and I would encourage our Majority to hold many more hearings that follow this example. 

I also believe that we should strongly consider developing a National Quantum Initiative, and I look forward to engaging with my 

colleagues on the other side of the aisle in the hope that we can 

put together bipartisan legislation to make this happen. 

I would note that it will be much more difficult to ensure U.S. 

leadership in this crucial field if we don’t at least provide sufficient 

resources to maintain our current rate of progress. Yet the Administration is proposing significant cuts to the agencies and programs 

that are at the vanguard of this effort. This would include an 11 

percent cut to the National Science Foundation, a 6.6 percent cut 

to the quantum science research at the National Institutes of 

Standards and Technology, and a 16 percent cut to the Department 

of Energy’s Basic Energy Sciences program. I look forward to hearing more about the impacts of these proposed cuts from both of our 

witness panels. Based on their written testimony alone, I expect 

that we will hear more than enough justification for substantially 

increasing our support for these quantum R&D efforts over the 

next several years. 

I thank you and yield back. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Johnson follows:] 
26 

OPENING STATEMENT 

Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) 

House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

Subcommittee on Research and Technology 

Subcommittee on Energy 

"American Leadership in Quantum Technology" 

October 24, 2017 

Thank you Chairwoman Comstock and Chairman Weber for holding this important hearing, and 

thank you to the witnesses for being here today. Quantum technology is an emerging field that 

will likely have a large impact on our nation's competitiveness in the industries of tomorrow. Its 

current and potential applications are frankly too numerous to list, as they range from enabling 

vast improvements in our ability to discover and develop new pharmaceuticals to ensuring the 

security of our most critical infrastructure. 

So, as the Committee of the future, this is exactly the kind of area that we should be focusing our 

attention on, and I would encourage our Majority to hold many more hearings that follow this 

example. I also believe that we should strongly consider developing a National Quantum 

Initiative, and I look forward to engaging with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle in the 

hope that we can put together bipartisan legislation to make this happen. I would note that it will 

be much more difficult to ensure U.S. leadership in this crucial field if we don't at least provide 

sufficient resources to maintain our current rate of progress. Yet the Administration is proposing 

significant cuts to the agencies and programs that are at the vanguard of this effort. This would 

include an II% cut to the National Science Foundation, a 6.6% cut to quantum science research 

at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and a 16% cut to the Department of 

Energy's Basic Energy Sciences program. 

I look forward to hearing more about the impacts of these proposed cuts from both of our witness 

panels. Based on their written testimony alone, I expect that we will hear more than enough 

justification for substantially increasing our support for these quantum R&D efforts over the next 

several years. 

Thank you again and I yield back. 
27 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you. 

I will now introduce our first panel of witnesses. Our first witness today is Dr. Carl Williams, Acting Director of the Physical 

Measurement Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards 

and Technology. Dr. Williams is a Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute and the Joint Center for Quantum Information in Computer 

Science, and he is an Adjunct Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland. He also directs the Quantum Information Program and helps lead the National Strategic Computing Initiative at 

NIST. 

Additionally, he’s a member and chairs interagency efforts in 

support of these activities under the Committee of Science of the 

National Science and Technology Council. He received a Bachelor 

of Arts in physics from Rice University and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. 

Dr. Jim Kurose is our second witness. He’s the Assistant Director 

of Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate 

at the National Science Foundation. Prior to NSF, he was a Distinguished Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. 

He also currently serves as Co-Chair of the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Subcommittee of 

the National Science and Technology Council Committee on Technology, which provides overall coordination for the IT research and 

development activities of 18 federal government agencies and offices. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in physics from Wesleyan University as well as a Masters of science and a Ph.D. in computer 

science from Columbia University. 

Dr. Stephen Binkley is our third witness today, and he is Acting 

Director of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy. In this role, 

he provides scientific and management oversight for the six science 

programs of the Office of Science including advanced scientific computing research. Previously, he has held senior positions at Sandia 

National Laboratories, the Department of Homeland Security, and 

the Department of Energy. He has conducted research in theoretical chemistry, material science, computer science, applied mathematics, and microelectronics. He received a Bachelor of Science in 

chemistry from Elizabethtown College as well as a Ph.D. in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University. 

I now recognize Dr. Williams for five minutes to present his testimony. 

TESTIMONY OF DR. CARL J. WILLIAMS, ACTING DIRECTOR, 

PHYSICAL MEASUREMENT LABORATORY, 

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY 

Dr. WILLIAMS. Thank you. Ranking Member Johnson, Chairwoman Comstock, Chairman Weber, Ranking Member Lipinski, 

Ranking Member Veasey, and members of the Subcommittees, I 

am Dr. Carl Williams, the Acting Director of the Physical Measurement Laboratory at the Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, known as NIST. Thank you for 

the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss NIST’s role 

in quantum science and quantum computing. 
28 

As this nation’s national metrology institute, NIST conducts 

basic and applied research in quantum science to advance the field 

of fundamental metrology as part of it’s core mission by developing 

more precise measurement tools and technologies to address industry’s increasingly challenging requirements. This work has positioned NIST both as a global leader among national metrology institutes, and as one of the world’s leading centers of research and 

engineering. 

While NIST’s work in quantum science is revolutionizing the 

world of metrology, it also has direct application to quantum communications and quantum computation. Today I’ll describe in detail more of NIST’s quantum research efforts and how they are 

being leveraged to positively advance the field. 

Many nations view leadership in quantum computing as critical 

to making significant breakthroughs in medicine, manufacturing, 

artificial intelligence, and defense and reaping the rewards from 

those investments and breakthroughs. The United States has long 

been viewed as a leader in quantum science, information, and computing. Significant historic investments by the U.S. government 

have supported a robust base of fundamental research and this has 

led to several transformational breakthroughs in the field. 

Today, U.S. leadership in quantum science and technology is increasingly dependent on significant investments from U.S. technology giants and major defense companies with a natural interest 

in many commercial applications of quantum technology beyond 

computing. These applications include quantum communications, 

quantum algorithms and software, data security, imaging, and 

quantum sensors, and could be applied to anything from national 

security to the Internet of Things to advance sensors for gas and 

oil exploration. 

While NIST has made significant breakthroughs, the rest of the 

world has not been standing still, and U.S. companies are taking 

notice. Worldwide interest in investment quantum computing-related technologies have spiked in recent years, following important 

increasingly complex technological demonstrations by overseas research efforts. 

At NIST, our researchers study and harness quantum mechanical properties of light and matter in some of the most well-controlled measurement environments to create the world’s most sensitive and precise sensors and atomic clocks. NIST has been a leader in the field of quantum information from the beginning and its 

multiple Nobel prize-winning contributions have helped move 

quantum computing and quantum information scientific fields of 

study to technological ones. 

These breakthroughs in precision timekeeping have critical realworld applications to navigation and timing. Today, commercial 

atomic clocks contained in GPS satellites provide the timekeeping 

precision that we take for granted when we use our GPS devices 

to pinpoint our location to within a meter of almost anywhere on 

Earth. Atomic clocks are just one example of NIST research focus 

on measurement science and has applications to quantum computing. 

Superconductors are also used by researchers at NIST to make 

ultrasensitive single photon detectors using precision photonic 
29 

measurements. These specially designed sensors have become essential components in experiments at NIST to test the foundations 

of quantum mechanics and realize quantum teleportation. Progress 

in quantum teleportation is expected to be essential for eventual 

commercial quantum computing and for other forms of quantum information transfer. 

NIST’s programs on quantum algorithms and postquantum 

cryptology further build on our core effort in quantum information 

theory with a focus on addressing security challenges anticipated 

when practical quantum computers are realized. NIST, working 

with industry has played a leading role since the 1970s in developing cryptographic standards. NIST researchers are using their 

understanding of quantum algorithms to create new classical 

encryption algorithms, commonly referred to as post-quantum cryptography, that will be resistant to quantum computing attacks. 

NIST recognizes that it has an essential role to play in U.S. leadership in quantum computing and information. However, that role 

is not to build a quantum computer. NIST’s role, consistent with 

its mission, is to develop the foundational knowledge and measurement science support for U.S. leadership in quantum computing 

and to ensure that our cybersecurity infrastructure remains resilient in the quantum era. 

NIST is extremely proud of the world-class quantum science, 

quantum information, mathematics and computer science programs, and we appreciate the support of this Committee for NIST’s 

research efforts. Sustained advancements by NIST in these fields 

continue to underpin success in many parts in its measurement 

science mission and to contribute to U.S. leadership in quantum 

computing. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I would be happy 

to answer any questions you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Williams follows:] 
30 

Testimony of 

Carl J. Williams, Ph.D. 

Acting Director 

Physical Measurement Laboratory 

National Institute of Standards and Technology 

United States Department of Commerce 

Before the 

United States House of Representatives 

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

Subcommittee on Research and Technology 

and 

Subcommittee on Energy 

"American Leadership in Quantum Technology" 

October 24, 2017 
31 

Introduction 

Chairwoman Comstock, Ranking Member Lipinski, Chairman Weber, Raking Member Veasey, 

and members of the Subcommittees, I am Dr. Carl Williams, the Acting Director of the Physical 

Measurement Laboratory (PML) at the Department of Commerce's National Institute of 

Standards and Technology (NIST). Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to 

discuss NIST's roles in quantum science and quantum computing. 

As this nation's national metrology institute, NIST's overall mission is to promote U.S. 

innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and 

technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life. NIST does 

this through programs focused on national priorities from cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing 

and the digital economy to precision metrology, biosciences, and more. 

NlST conducts basic and applied research in quantum science to advance the field of 

fundamental metrology as part of its core mission, by developing more precise measurement 

tools and technologies to address industry's increasingly challenging requirements. This work 

has positioned NIST both as a global leader among national metrology institutes, and as one of 

the world's leading centers of quantum research and engineering. While NIST's work in 

quantum science is revolutionizing the world of metrology, it also has direct application to 

quantum communications and quantum computation. Today, I'll describe in more detail some of 

NIST's quantum research efforts and how they are being leveraged to positively advance the 

field. 

Quantum Computing and Quantum Information Science 

Quantum mechanics revolutionized science in the 20'h century, leading to technological 

breakthroughs including the invention of the laser and the transistor. Today's most advanced 

communication and computation technologies are based on those mid-20th century inventions. 

Science and society is poised for a second quantum revolution in the 21" century, one in which 

we will employ our new-found ability to exploit quantum mechanical phenomena to push 

beyond the limits of classical computing and communications. Phenomena such as superposition 

(the ability of a particle to be in several different states at the same time) and entanglement (the 

ability of two particles to share information even at a distance) lie at the heart of what makes a 

quantum computer so much more powerful than even today's most advanced classical 

supercomputers. 

So, what are quantum computing and quantum information? Unlike classical computers, which 

process high and low voltages as 1 'sand O's to form bits of information that get shuttled around, 

quantum computers manipulate quantum bits of information, or qubits. A qubit's information is 

in the form of a discrete state, such as the magnetic spin of an electron. Due to quantum 

mechanical phenomena such as superposition, these qubits can be both a 1 and a 0 at the same 

time. 

To understand this, we can imagine a normal classical bit as able to represent only two points on 

the surface of a sphere-such as the nmth and south poles of the earth. In contrast, a qubit could 

2 
32 

represent any point on the surface of that sphere. This superposition, together with the shared 

fate resulting from entanglement between multiple qubits together, is what gives a quantum 

computer the superior computational power that will make it uniquely capable of solving 

complex problems, including perhaps most notably the breaking of current encryption schemes. 

NIST's expertise in quantum science is mainly focused on the use of quantized states oflight and 

matter and their manipulation and interaction as quantum bits of information to make ultraprecise sensors and measurement tools. This application falls under a broader field of study that 

we refer to as "quantum information science," which lies at the intersection of computer science, 

mathematics, and quantum science. The breakthroughs that NIST is making in this field will 

have direct relevance and application to quantum computing. 

Recent Investments and Advancements Abroad 

Many nations view leadership in quantum computing as critical to making significant 

breakthroughs in medicine, manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and defense, and to reaping the 

rewards from those investments and breakthroughs. The U.S. has long been viewed as a leader 

in quantum science, information, and computing. Significant historic investment by the U.S. 

govermnent has supported a robust base of fundamental research, and this has led to several 

transfonnational breakthroughs in the field. 

Today, U.S. leadership in quantum science and technology is increasingly dependent on 

significant investments from U.S. technology giants and major defense companies with a natural 

interest in the many commercial applications of quantum technology beyond computing. These 

applications include quantum cormnunications, quantum algorithms and software, data security, 

imaging, and quantum sensors, and could be applied to anything from national security to the 

Internet of Things, to advanced sensors for gas and oil exploration. Applications for quantum 

sensors include novel approaches to precision navigation and timing, as well as technologies that 

could provide a backup or holdover frmction for global positioning systems or GPS. 

While the U.S. has made significant breakthroughs, the rest of the world has not been standing 

still-and U.S. companies are taking notice. Worldwide interest and investment in quantum 

computing and related technologies has spiked in recent years, following important and 

increasingly complex technological demonstrations by overseas research efforts. 

The European Union has launched an effort to invest 2 billion euros over the next I 0 years in a 

recently launched EU Flagship Quantum Program. The United Kingdom has created a set of 

quantum hubs aimed at exploiting the various application spaces within quantum information 

science. 

Perhaps even more noteworthy is China's rapid investment in quantum technology and the 

dramatic advances by China in the area of quantum communication. Earlier this year, China sent 

entangled photons from a satellite to the ground 1200 kilometers away, smashing several 

quantum communication distance records. More recently, China has demonstrated the world's 

first atomic clock in space using cold atoms, which can far outperform the atomic clocks in U.S. 

GPS, and can further support future advanced quantum networks. 
33 

NIST's History and Role in Quantum Computing and Information 

At NIST, our researchers study and harness the quantum mechanical properties of light and 

matter in some of the most well-controlled and defined measurement environments to create the 

world's most sensitive and precise sensors and atomic clocks. NIST has been a leader in the 

field of quantum information from the beginning, and its multiple Nobel Prize-winning 

contributions have helped move quantum computing and quantum information from purely 

scientific fields of study to technological ones. 

NIST scientists began researching quantum information in the early 1990s in their quest to make 

better atomic clocks. Qubits and atomic clocks may seem worlds apart, but experimentally they 

are very much the same thing. By 2000, NIST had established a formal quantum information 

program. 

Atomic Cloch: The Power of One Qubit 

Atomic clocks define the second and tell time with amazing precision. For example, the most 

accurate U.S. atomic clock currently used for defining the second is the NIST -F2. It keeps time 

to an accuracy ofless than a millionth of a billionth of a second. Stated in another way, the 

NIST-F2 clock will not lose a second in at least 300 million years. And just this month, NIST 

published a description of a radically new atomic clock design-the three-dimensional (3-D) 

quantum gas atomic clock. With a precision of just 3.5 parts error in I 0 quintillion (I followed 

by 19 zeros) in about 2 hours, it is the first atomic clock to ever reach the I 0 quintillion 

threshold, and promises to usher in an era of dramatically improved measurements and 

technologies across many areas based on controlled quantum systems. 

These breakthroughs in precision timekeeping have critical real-world applications to navigation 

and timing. Today, commercial atomic clocks contained in GPS satellites provide the 

timekeeping precision that we take for granted when we use our GPS devices to pinpoint our 

location to within a meter almost anywhere on earth. 

NIST's most advanced atomic clocks, so precise that they will not lose a second over the life of 

the universe, also are being applied to make the world's most sensitive measurements of 

quantities other than time. For example, NIST is actively pursuing the use of atomic clocks as 

quantum sensors, another application of quantum information, for a range of entirely new 

technologies. NIST is now able to detect the barely perceptible slowing of time in a large 

gravitational potential. This is the second form of time dilation predicted by Einstein in his 

general theory of relativity and may help scientists detect gravitational waves or prospectors find 

hidden oil reserves and mineral deposits. The technology might even have the potential to allow 

scientists to predict earthquakes days or even weeks before a cataclysmic event. 

Quantum Logic 

NIST's breakthroughs in the measurement of time also have laid the technological foundations 

for how to manipulate quantum information. NIST's pioneering work in the cooling and 

trapping of ions and atoms to improve timekeeping provided NIST researchers with the 

experimental platform to demonstrate the first two-qubit quantum logic gate in 1995, by 

controlling and entangling the energy levels of two ions. Logic gates in classical computers are 

used to process information. By analogy, quantum logic gates form the basic building block for 

4 
34 

quantum computing. Scaling up to experiments involving multiple logic gates provides a 

platform to test more complex quantum computing theory. 

Other Quantum Computing Technologies 

Atomic clocks are just one example of NIST' s research focused on measurement science that has 

applications to quantum computing. NIST also is the world's leader in specially designed 

devices, made from superconductors, known as Josephson Junctions. Josephson Junction 

technology is used by NIST to realize and disseminate NIST's quantum voltage standard. The 

quantum voltage standard is also integral to the proposed 2019 effort to redefine the international 

system of units (colloquially, the metric system) to be based on fundamental constants of nature, 

as defined through world-leading experiments at NIST such as the "electronic kilogram". This 

same technology is being explored as a key competitor to trapped ions and atoms as another way 

to manipulate and store quantum information. 

Additionally, Superconductors are used by researchers at NIST to make ultra-sensitive single 

photon detectors used in precision photonic measurements at NIST and by external stakeholders. 

These specially designed sensors have become essential components in experiments at NIST to 

test the foundations of quantum mechanics and realize quantum teleportation. In quantum 

teleportation, quantum information gets transmitted instantaneously from one qubit to another. 

Discrete photons, like ions and atoms, can also be carefully controlled and entangled to form 

qubits. Prior to China's recent 1200 kilometer demonstration, NIST had held the distance record 

for quantum teleportation, transmitting information between photons separated by I 00 

kilometers. Progress in quantum teleportation is expected to be essential for eventual 

commercial quantum computing, and for other forms of quantum infonnation transfer. 

In the end, building a quantum computer will involve many disparate quantum technologies. 

Those technologies will need to be integrated to provide long-term storage and memory, 

transmission or teleportation, transduction, and detection of qubits while not conupting the 

qubit's extremely delicate state. 

Quantum Information Theory and Validation and Verification 

In 2002, NIST hired its first quantum information theorist. This began a quantum information 

program which has led to new and improved approaches for quantum error correction, 

techniques for reliably characterizing quantum states produced in the laboratory, and concepts 

for randomized benchmarking of quantum gates. These concepts have provided crucial insights, 

which NIST has used to further improve our experimental efforts and those of other research 

groups. For example, randomized benchmarking has become the standard by which research 

groups around the world characterize and compare the quality of their computational paradigms. 

Quantum Algorithm~ and Post-Quantum Cryptography 

NIST programs on quantum algorithms and post-quantum cryptography further build on our core 

efforts in quantum information theory with a focus on addressing security challenges anticipated 

when practical quantum computers are realized. NIST, working with industry, has played a 

leading role since the 1970s in developing cryptography standards. Today's classical computers 

and computer networks employing Public Key Cryptography are using cryptography 

standardized by NIST. Unfortunately, these standards will not be resistant to attack by quantum 

computers. NIST researchers are using their understanding of quantum algorithms to create new 

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35 

classical encryption algorithms, commonly referred to as post-quantum cryptography, that will 

be resistant to quantum computing attacks. 

NIST's Joint Institutes with Universities 

NIST also supports joint centers with the University of Colorado Boulder (UC) and the 

University of Maryland (UMD). JILA at UC was founded in 1962 and has been doing research 

in quantum science and in atomic clocks and is evolving into quantum information science. Two 

joint centers in quantum information science at UMD were established more recently. The Joint 

Quantum Institute (JQI) was established in 2006 through a cooperative effort between NIST, 

UMD, and the Laboratory for Physical Sciences. The Joint Center for Quantum Information and 

Computer Science (QuiCS) was established in 2014 to complement JQI's experimental and 

theoretical work by focusing the use of quantum systems to process, transmit and store quantum 

information. Taken together, NIST's joint institutes interact strongly to push the frontiers of 

quantum science, information, and computing and provide a training ground for industry's future 

quantum workforce. 

Conclusion 

NIST recognizes that it has an essential role to play in U.S. leadership in quantum computing and 

information. However, that role is not to build a quantum computer. NIST's role, consistent 

with its mission, is to develop the foundational knowledge and measurement science support for 

U.S. leadership in quantum computing, to create the basis for characterizing quantum logic gates, 

to explore approaches to quantum control and error correction, to develop rudimentary quantum 

processors that are capable of creating the exotic quantum states that will allow improvement of 

our measurements beyond the standard quantum limit, and to ensure that our cybersecurity 

infrastructure remains resilient in the quantum era. Part of this foundational knowledge will 

come from using NIST's measurement platforms to experimentally conduct quantum simulations 

and validate quantum computing theory. NIST also anticipates that the early adoption of the 

quantum technologies that emerge as NIST continues to develop the world's most precise atomic 

clocks (quantum logic clocks) and quantum based sensors will ultimately provide substantial 

support to the effort to build a quantum computer. 

NIST is extremely proud of its world-class quantum science, quantum information, mathematics, 

and computer science programs, and we appreciate the support of this Committee for NIST's 

research efforts. Sustained advancements by NIST in these fields continue to underpin success 

in many parts ofNIST's measurement science mission and contribute to U.S. leadership in 

quantum computing. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I would be happy to answer 

any questions you may have. 

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Carl J, Williams 

Carl J. Williams is Acting Director of the Physical 

Measurement Laboratory (PML), National Institute of 

Standards and Technology (NIST). He is a Fellow of the 

Joint Quantum Institute and the Joint Center for quantum 

Information in Computer Science and Adjunct Professor of 

Physics at the University of Maryland (UMD). He directs the 

quantum Information Program and helps lead the National 

Strategic Computing Initiative at NIST. He is a member and 

chairs interagency efforts in support of these activities 

under the Committee of Science of the National Science 

and Technology Council. He is a member of the Executive 

Leadership Team within the PML and represents the PML 

to other federal agencies. 

As Acting Director of PML, Dr. Williams is responsible for the maintenance, 

development, and dissemination of the U.S. national measurement standards. He also 

manages the full suite of NIST calibration services in dimensional, electromagnetic, 

ionizing radiation, mechanical, optical, thermodynamic, and time and frequency 

metrology. 

Education: 

Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1987 

B.A. in Physics from Rice University in 1981 

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37 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you, and I now recognize Dr. 

Kurose for five minutes to present his testimony. 

TESTIMONY OF DR. JIM KUROSE, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, 

COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCE 

AND ENGINEERING DIRECTORATE, 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Dr. KUROSE. Thank you very much. Good morning, Ranking 

Member Johnson, Chairwoman Comstock, Chairman Weber, Ranking Member Lipinski, and Ranking Member Veasey. My name is 

Jim Kurose. I’m the Assistant Director at the National Science 

Foundation for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. As you know, the National Science Foundation supports fundamental research in all areas of science and engineering disciplines; 

supports for education and training for the next generation of discoverers and innovators, and contributes to national security and 

U.S. economic competitiveness. I welcome this opportunity to highlight the promise of quantum information science, which I’ll call 

QIS—so that’s a little bit of an acronym alert here—and NSF’s investment in QIS and their impact on our nation’s security and 

economy. 

QIS harnesses quantum phenomena with the promise of creating 

more precise measurement systems, more accurate sensors, more 

secure communication, and more advanced computers that will outperform today’s most powerful digital supercomputers on a range 

of problems in materials science, molecular simulation, design and 

optimization, and cryptography. There will be benefits in nearly all 

areas and all sectors of the economy as well as new challenges, particularly in the area of cybersecurity. 

NSF’s investments in fundamental long-term research have been 

crucial to a national strategy for sustaining leadership in QIS. For 

several decades, NSF has funded research that has defined the 

frontiers of QIS. NSF’s investments in QIS research span multiple 

disciplines including mathematical and physical sciences, engineering, and computer science, and in four areas: in the fundamentals 

that advance our understanding of uniquely quantum phenomena 

and their interaction with classical systems; in elements that 

model, control, and exploit quantum particles and measure them; 

in software systems and in algorithms that enable quantum information processing; and in the workforce including training a new 

generation of scientists, engineers, and educators for a globally 

competitive workforce. 

NSF annually has invested approximately $30 million in QIS research and education activities plus another $40 million in facilityrelated investments. Looking forward, QIS will continue to be an 

important part of NSF’s research portfolio. 

The National Science Foundation recently announced 10 Big 

Ideas that form a cutting-edge research agenda. One of these Big 

Ideas, the Quantum Leap: Leading the Next Quantum Revolution, 

is aimed squarely at advancing QIS. Another Big Idea, Growing 

Convergence Research at NSF, seeks the deep integration of knowledge, techniques and expertise from multiple fields that are needed 

to address scientific challenges in areas including QIS. 
38 

NSF’s investments in QIS research have been accompanied by investments in education and workforce development as well. Academic QIS researchers are also teachers. They take their latest developments from the lab to the classroom and they mentor research 

students and postdocs. For example, Dr. Krysta Svore was an NSFfunded graduate student at Columbia University focusing on computational complexity in quantum computing. Today she’s a leader 

at Microsoft Research developing real-world quantum algorithms 

and designing quantum software architectures. Dr. Svore is emblematic of the unique flow of ideas and people and artifacts between academia and industry in our nation. In information technology areas, this flow has been characterized by the so-called ‘‘tire 

tracks diagram,’’ which documents in multiple reports from the National Academies the flow of ideas, people and artifacts back and 

forth. Indeed, NSF frequently partners with industry to accelerate 

programs in mutual areas of interest, and QIS is one of these 

areas. 

NSF’s close coordination and collaboration with other federal 

agencies has been critical in shaping its QIS investments. Together 

with DOE and NIST, NSF co-chairs the Interagency Working 

Group on Quantum Information Science, which was established in 

2009 under the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Science. Last year, the QIS working group released a report, Advancing Quantum Information Science: National Challenges and Opportunities, which notes the promise in this area and 

NSF’s key role as an agency in supporting QIS fundamental research, workforce development, and technology transfer. 

My testimony today has really emphasized the potential of QIS 

in a wide range of areas from harnessing unrivaled computing 

power to securing communications to developing novel therapeutics 

for some of our most vexing diseases. NSF has made significant 

long-term investments in fundamental and multidisciplinary QIS 

research. These investments have laid the foundations for QIS as 

we know it today, and in turn are enabling U.S. researchers and 

industry to lead abroad. I’ve described how NSF’s education portfolio is working to develop a next-generation QIS-capable workforce. 

This concludes my remarks, and I’m very happy to answer questions. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Kurose follows:] 
39 

Testimony of 

James F. Kurose, Ph.D. 

Assistant Director of the 

National Science Foundation for 

Computer and Information Science and Engineering 

Before the 

Subcommittee on Research and Technology 

and the Subcommittee on Energy 

For the 

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

U.S. House of Representatives 

October 24, 2017 

American Leadership in Quantum Technology 

Good afternoon, Chairwoman Comstock, Chairman Weber, Ranking Member Lipinski, Ranking Member 

Veasey, and members of the Subcommittees. My name is Jim Kurose and I am the Assistant Director of 

the National Science Foundation (NSF) for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). 

As you know, NSF is dedicated to advancing progress in all fields of science and engineering. NSF funds 

fundamental research across all science and engineering disciplines; supports education of the next 

generation of innovative thinkers, discoverers, and leaders; and contributes to national security and US 

economic competitiveness. I welcome this opportunity to highlight NSF's investments in quantum 

information science (QIS) specifically, including our efforts to work collaboratively with other Federal 

agencies and industry stakeholders. 

Investments in fundamental, long-term, transformative research such as QIS are crucial to an effective 

national strategy for achieving and sustaining U.S. technological leadership. NSF co-chaired a recent 

National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) report titled Advancing Quantum Information Science: 

National Challenges and Opportunities'. This report, which was developed jointly by the NSTC 

Committees on Science as well as Homeland and National Security, provides a brief description of the 

field of QIS, summarizes developments and potential impacts in various areas of fundamental research 

and technology, surveys existing Federal investments, and articulates a path forward for overcoming 

barriers to QIS progress, including transitioning promising research to practice and supporting education 

1 Advancing Quantum Information Science: National Challenges and Opportunities, 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/images/Quantum Info Sci Report 2016 07 22%20final 

&9l.c 
40 

and training. In particular, the report recommends that QIS be considered a priority for Federal 

coordination and investment in order to ensure sustained US leadership in QIS and associated emerging 

technologies for decades to come. NSF's investments in QIS are aligned with this report. Additionally, a 

series of workshops have continued to inform NSF's investment strategy in QIS, and enabled strong 

coordination and collaboration with Federal agency partners and industry stakeholders. 

Over the last several decades, NSF has sought to fund the frontiers of QIS research, capitalize on the 

intellectual capacity of both young and experienced investigators in our Nation's academic and research 

institutions, and promote connections between academia and industry. Collectively, these activities are 

essential for innovation in QIS, and in turn contribute to national security and economic growth in both 

the near and long terms. 

Indeed, we are already witnessing how many powerful QIS innovations being led by industry today are 

predicated on fundamental research outcomes generated with NSF funding. Let me share with you a 

few examples of the important contributions made recently by the QIS research community with NSF as 

well as other Federal support, and how they are being leveraged in industry today: 

• As early as 1999, NSF served as a "convener," stimulating workshops and so-called "Ideas Labs" that 

brought together multidisciplinary perspectives from academia, industry, and government to 

identify opportunities to accelerate the emerging field of QIS. 

Dr. Krysta Svore, an NSF-funded graduate student at Columbia University in the 2000s, made 

advances in the theory of computational complexity in the context of quantum computing. More 

than a decade later, today she is a leader at Microsoft in developing real-world quantum algorithms, 

understanding their implications, and designing comprehensive software architecture for 

programming such as algorithms on a quantum computer'. 

Dr. John Martinis, a physics professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), was 

hired, along with his entire team, by Google in September 2014 to develop new quantum computing 

hardware3

• With funding from NSF, Dr. Martinis and his team at UCSB contributed significantly to 

breaking barriers in the construction of a quantum computing device beginning as early as 2005. 

Much of his work has focused on the stability of quantum bits, or "qubits" (the quantum analog of 

the digital bits in today's computers) -one of the foremost challenges in QIS. 

Recognizing the inherent multidisciplinary aspects of QIS, which spans physics, engineering, 

computer science, and materials science, among other domains, NSF has long funded crossdisciplinary research centers integrated with early-career development activies. These investments 

are often in collaboration with universities, private foundations such as the Gordan and Betty Moore 

Foundation, and other Federal agencies including those represented at this hearing this morning. 

These larger, more comprehensive research activities have served to create the next generation of 

quantum scientists for U.S. companies such as Google, Microsoft, and IBM. Examples include the 

Institute for Quantum Information and Matter at the California Institute of Technology, the Center 

for Integrated Quantum Materials at Harvard University, and the Center for Quantum Information 

Control at the University of New Mexico, one of only four Research/Doctoral-Extensive institutions 

in the country to also be designated as Hispanic-serving. 

2 Krysta M. Svore, Principal Research Manager, Microsoft Research, https:/lwww.microsoft.com/enus/research/people/ksvore/. 

3 "The Man Who Will Build Google's Elusive Quantum Computer," Wired, Sept. 5, 2014, 

https:/lwww.wired.com/2014/09/martinis/. 

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Moreover, as I will describe later in my testimony, NSF is pioneering multidisciplinary, collaborative 

research programs in QIS across its directorates. looking forward, NSF will continue to bring the 

problem-solving capabilities of the Nation's best and brightest minds to bear on the persisting QIS 

challenges of today and tomorrow. 

QIS research and education are now at an "inflection point," with rapid advances and growing domestic 

and international investments in QIS, particularly in industry. Now is the time to build on past Federal 

investments in QIS research and education to enable frontier advances in QIS that will transform: 

• Fundamental science and engineering, both in discovering unanticipated phenomena and using 

them to study nature; 

• Technology that leads to novel computing architectures and methods, combined with radically new 

quantum-based sensing and imaging technologies, modeling and simulation approaches, and secure 

communication tools; 

• The workforce, which will be trained to "think quantum" across many disparate fields; 

The economy, where new industries will arise that will be crucial for maintaining U.S. leadership; 

and 

National security, by harnessing QIS capabilities and nurturing the next-generation workforce to 

provide national security practitioners with the best tools to protect systems. 

Defining QIS: The Potential for Transformative Societal Impact 

Quantum information science (QIS) harnesses quantum phenomena to create measurement systems 

with greater precision, sensors and detectors that are more accurate, and computers that will 

outperform the most powerful digital supercomputers available today. But QIS is far more than this set 

of technological applications; it is an area of deep scientific inquiry in and of itself. 

Today's conventional computing and communication devices use binary digits (or "bits") as the basic 

unit of information. A bit can have only one of two values at any given moment, most commonly either 

"0" or "1." By contrast, quantum computing relies upon quantum bits (or "qubits"), which can be in a 

"superposition" of both states at the same time, i.e., a qubit can be "0," "1," or both simultaneously. let 

me draw an analogy: if a bit is similar to a stationary coin, where the head is 0 and the tail is 1, a qubit 

can be thought of as the coin while it is tossed in the air; the coin is spinning with no determined value 

(head, 0, or tail, 1) at any given point in time, until it is caught. This superposition- a quantum 

mechanics property- coupled with other quantum mechanics properties (e.g., "entanglement," or the 

ability for a quantum particle to change its state instantaneously upon an operation on or measurement 

of a completely different but entangled particle), allows qubits to provide massive memory, sensing, and 

computational capabilities. QIS systems thus offer the potential to solve many challenges that are 

intractable with today's traditional digital technologies, from modeling deadly diseases to enhancing 

cybersecurity. 

For example, QIS offers the promise of transcending today's cybersecurity challenge by providing 

absolutely secure communication. At the same time, quantum computers have the potential to render 

today's cryptographic approaches insecure, including those used for nearly all electronic commerce 

transactions. Quantum computing at scale would thus require a complete revision of cryptographic 

standards and protocols. 

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Quantum computers may also help with the design of new materials and compounds, including 

potential therapeutics, by allowing more efficient, higher-resolution computational simulations of 

material properties and protein folding patterns. Quantum computing has the potential to significantly 

reduce cost and create opportunities in the design process, enabling new types of materials and 

compounds not known today. 

In these examples, the promise of quantum computing results from it being able to compute answers far 

faster than a traditional digitial computer. Indeed, for some computing challenges, a quantum computer 

could be so much faster that it could be capable of solving problems that simply cannot be solved by 

traditional digital computers. 

Similarly, quantum sensors such as magnetometers can offer higher sensitivity, with reduced energy, 

cooling, and shielding requirements than conventional magnetometers. As a result, they promise to 

make new forms of cancer imaging possible, with fewer deleterious effects. For example, quantum 

sensors could radically improve the sensitivity and resolution of microwave tomography, offering 

significant potential in imaging breast cancer. 

A History of Sustained NSF Investment in QIS: The Foundations for Future Advances 

In keeping with its mission "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, 

prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense ... ," NSF has long supported fundamental 

research related to QIS. For example, in 1999, NSF funded a landmark workshop, titled Quantum 

Information Science: An Emerging Field of Interdisciplinary Research and Education in Science and 

Engineering. Thisworkshop outlined key research areas for the community to pursue with increased 

investment•. 

NSF's investments irr QIS have continued to grow since that seminal workshop. From FY 2000 to FY 2004, 

QIS was a component of the NSF's Information Technology Research (ITR) program, with relevant 

research supported by multiple NSF directorates. Also during this period, in FY 2001 and FY 2002, NSF 

ran the Quantum and Biologically Inspired Computing (QuBIC) program, supporting interdisciplinary 

research that led to new insights and understanding in QIS as well as biologically-inspired computing; a 

key goal of QuBIC was to unite information science across computer science, physics, biology, and 

engineering. In FY 2005, the Quantum Information Science and Revolutionary Computing program was 

established by NSF's Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), with funding and 

engagement from the CISE directorate as well as the Directorate for Engineering (ENG); this program 

continues today as the Quantum Information Science program. In FY 2012, the CISE-MPS 

Interdisciplinary Faculty Program in Quantum Information Science was launched. 

In FY 2016, NSF's ENG directorate invested $12 million in quantum technologies for secure 

communication through the Advancing Communication Quantum Information Research in Engineering 

(ACQUIRE) research area within its Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) program_.- a 

longstanding program that seeks to expand the limits of knowledge in the service of grand challenges 

and national needs. This EFRI/ACQUIRE project currently supports six interdisciplinary teams consisting 

4 Quantum Information Science: An Emerging Field of Interdisciplinary Research and Education in Science and 

Engineering, https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2000/nsf00101/nsf00101.htm. 

4 
43 

of 26 researchers at 15 institutions to perform transformative, fundamental research to develop 

systems that use photons in pre-determined quantum states as a way to encrypt data. 

In addition to these focused programs supporting QIS research and capacity building, NSF also supports 

research and education activities in QIS through a number of core research programs within its CISE, 

ENG, and MPS directorates. For example, NSF's Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) program, 

which is led by the CISE directorate in partnership with the Directorates for Education and Human 

Resources (EHR), ENG, MPS, and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE), supports postquantum cryptography, i.e., the development of cryptographic systems that are secure against both 

quantum and classical computers, and that can intemperate with existing communication protocols and 

networks. 

Lastly, NSF has frequently supported QIS workshops to build capacity within the research community. 

Bringing together academics from across the many disciplines that are core to QIS, along with 

stakeholders in other Federal agencies and industry, has proved to be tremendously fruitful in 

developing a forward-looking research agenda. 

Promising QIS Research Areas 

Building on these past investments, NSF continues to support science and engineering research at colleges and 

universities across the Nation to advance our understanding of underlying QIS phenomena and to develop 

radically new technologies at the quantum frontier. In particular, NSF investments span four key areas: 

1. Quantum Fundamentals: Advance fundamental understanding of uniquely quantum phenomena 

and their interface with classical systems across a broad range of conditions; 

2. Quantum Elements: Transform our ability to measure, model, control, and exploit quantum 

particles in single and multi-particle quantum systems; 

3. Quantum Systems: Design and develop hardware, software, and underlying algorithms needed for 

controllable and scalable quantum information processing; and 

4. Quantum Workforce: Train a new generation of scientists, engineers, and educators for a 

transdisciplinary, globally competitive workforce in QIS. 

NSF is well positioned to support this multidisciplinary research through its research directorates, and continues to 

work in collaboration with Federal agency partners and induStry leaders to realize innovations with societal 

impact. 

Next I will elaborate on the four areas defined above. 

The first, Quantum Fundamentals, offers the ability to understand and control quantum de-coherence, and 

generate, measure, and manipulate quantum entangled states; characterize, verify, and exploit the full range of 

capabilities of quantum algorithms and simulations for exponential speedup, along with their application to a 

growing range of problems, including expanding quantum complexity theory; and discover, analyze, and 

understand the fundamental properties of novel quantum many-body states of matter with tailored properties 

that can be exploited for quantum technologies, including controling multiple degrees of freedom using lightmatter interactions at fine resolutions. 

The second area, Quantum Elements, aims to transform our ability to measure, model, control, and exploit 

quantum phenomena in single and multi-particle systems into technologies that can be harnessed to build 

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44 

components that together will constitute a usable quantum system. Research challenges here include utilizing 

quantum superposition of states, entanglement, and quantum squeezing in metrology; characterizing and 

minimizing noise, and developing, testing, and implementing quantum error corrections; and developing efficient, 

high-resolution methods to generate, control, manipulate, read, and write qubits. 

The third, Quantum Systems, includes the co-design of a quantum platform- system control software, applicationspecific hardware, and application-specific quantum algorithms -that is ultimately where quantum sensing, 

metrology, simulation or computation happens. Research challenges include identifying advantages and 

limitations of quantum and classical devices; developing quantum circuits and system designs that provide stable, 

controlable, scalable, and relatively error-free quantum capabilities for a wide of range of states; pursuing 

programming paradigms for quantum sensing, computing, and communication; employing interdisciplinary teams 

to enable technological advances by providing viable platforms for quantum computing and testbeds for rapid 

prototyping, characterization, and optimization; generating on-demand, scalable systems of quantum objects in 

superposition states, while enabling information exchange across the quantum-classical boundary; studying 

properties of quantum information and quantum algorithms including issues of quantum computational 

complexity and computability; ensuring socially-responsible design and innovation of quantum platforms for use in 

complex socio-technical systems; and explornig novel and emergent applications of quantum technology. 

Finally, Quantum Workforce underpins the aforementioned activities by enabling the necessary supply 

of intellectual capital. Investments in the Quantum Workforce support training for a new generation of 

scientists, engineers, and educators in a transdisciplinary, globally competitive QIS workforce. I will 

describe this area in more detail next. 

QIS Education and Workforce Development 

NSF's investments in QIS research are accompanied by investments in education and workforce 

development. Research undertaken in academia not only engages some of our Nation's best and 

brightest researchers, but because these researchers are also teachers, new generations of students are 

exposed to the latest thinking from the people who understand it best. As these students graduate and 

transition into the workplace, they bring this knowledge and understanding with them. 

Dr. Scott Aaronson of the University of Texas at Austin exemplifies how NSF-funded researchers and 

educators are leading the way in QIS discovery and innovation. Dr. Aaronson is a theoretical 

computational scientist whose research focuses on the limitations of quantum computers and 

computational complexity theory more generally. His research addresses a variety of topics, including 

the information content of quantum states, the physical resources needed for quantum computers to 

surpass classical computers, and the barriers to solving computer science's vexing '~p versus NP" 

question (i.e., whether every problem whose solution can be quickly verified by a computer can also be 

quickly solved by a computer). At the same time, Dr. Aaronson is a founder of the Complexity Zoo wiki, 

which catalogs over 500 computational complexity classes. Dr. Aaronson was awarded NSF's highest 

honor, the Alan T. Waterman Award, which every year recognizes an outstanding young researcher in 

any field of science or engineering supported by NSF who has made significant progress in his or her 

field, early in his or her career. In 2012, the award was given to Dr. Aaronson for his advances in a 

diverse range of QIS priority areas. 

As part of its education and workforce investments, NSF has supported several Research Experiences for 

Undergraduates (REU) Sites in the area of QIS. REU Sites are based on independent proposals that seek 

to initiate and conduct projects engaging a number of undergraduate students in research. Each REU 

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45 

Site must have a well-defined common focus, based in a single discipline or spanning interdisciplinary or 

multidisciplinary research opportunities with a coherent intellectual theme, which enables a cohort 

experience for participating students. Each REU Site typically supports 8 to 12 undergraduate students 

each summer, including housing and stipend support, with each student involved in a specific project 

guided by a faculty mentor. REU Sites are an important means for extending high-quality research 

environments and mentoring to diverse groups of students. Examples of NSF-funded REU Sites that align 

with QIS include: 

• Nano-, Bio-, and Quantum Photonics, University of Rochester, led by Drs. Andrew Berger and 

Anthony Vamivakas5

• This REU Site offers students summer research opportunities exploring 

photonic spectroscopy for bone quality monitoring and novel device fabrication for generating 

quantum states of light. The REU Site supports a diverse cohort of students from underrepresented 

groups and institutions with limited research opportunities. 

Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, led by Dr. Naomi Halas6

• This REU Site provides students 

from universities beyond Rice with interdisciplinary summer research projects in QIS. This has been 

a longstanding REU Site and reflects a partnership with the US Department of Defense, which cofunded the REU Site with NSF. 

Materials Physics, University of Florida, led by Drs. Selman Hershfield and Kevin lngersene. This REU 

Site offers research experiences for students to explore the experimental, theoretical, and 

computational aspects of the design, measurement, and understanding of novel materials and 

quantum phenomena. This REU Site recruits students nationwide with an emphasis on increasing 

participation by women and other members of groups underrepresented in QIS. 

NSF also emphasizes support for research at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUis}-those that do 

not typically award graduate degrees. A series of investments have been made to enhance QIS research 

and opportunities for students at PUis. One example project is: 

• Unconventional Anisotropic Order in Strongly Correlated Fermi Systems, Prairie View A&M 

University8• Through this project, Dr. Orion Ciftja and his students are investigating quantum 

mechanical states of electrons that are curiously analogous to the states of long molecules in liquid 

crystals that form the basis of modern display technology. This research contributes to the 

intellectual foundations for potentially new electronic and optical device technologies. Prarie View 

A&M University is a Historically Black College or University (HBCU), and the project involves minority 

undergraduate students in research, training them in skills that will be valuable in the modern 

technical workforce. 

NSF has also funded early-career investigators through the Faculty Early-Career Development (CAREER) 

program, which offers NSF's most prestigious research award in support of early-career faculty who 

exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the 

5 REU Site: Nano-, Bio-, and Quantum Photonics at University of Rochester, 

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD ID=1659539&Historica1Awards=false. 6 REU Site: Research Experiences for Undergraduates at the Rice Quantum Institute, 

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD ID=0755008&Historica1Awards=false. 7 REU Site: Materials Physics at the University of Florida, 

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD ID=1156737&Historica1Awards=false. 8 RUI-Unconventional Anisotropic Order in Strongly Correlated Fermi Systems, 

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD ID=14103SO&Historica1Awards=false. 

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46 

integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. Two 

CAREER award examples include the following: 

Quantifying Noisy Quantum Resources, led by Dr. Graeme Smith at University of Colorado 

Boulder9• This award supports research to identify, quantify, and ultimately understand the 

fundamental resources in quantum information theory, including quantum communication links and 

noisy quantum states. 

• Interactions with Untrusted Quantum Devices, led by Dr. Thomas Vidick at California Institute of 

Technology10• This research project tackles the broad challenge of how classical devices may 

establish and maintain a trusted interaction with unknown and untrusted quantum devices. This 

research is critical and broadly applicable, from developing new and secure communication 

protocols, such as for online bank transactions, to new computing paradigms. 

Beyond these investments, NSF contributes to enhancing QIS education and workforce development by: 

1. Mobilizing existing institutions to educate and engage communities in QIS and promote interaction 

among, and an exchange of scientists from different disciplines, across academia, industry, and 

national labs, as well as with international partners in the national interest; 

2. Serving the public by promoting engaging media, public education, and innovation; and 

3. Conducting systematic studies of the social and economic benefits and risks for society in the 

development of quantum sensors, quantum computers, and other quantum platforms; such studies 

would include the impacts oft heir migration between the academia and industry, and oft heir largescale production and use. 

As one example, in FY 2017, NSF made an award to the University of Chicago, under the leadership of 

Dr. David Awschalom, to support students working in a focused academic-industry collaboration to 

pursue research and gain valuable industry experience". This project specifically supports the 

development of a cohort of "triplets," or multiple teams comprising a university investigator, an industry 

partner, and a graduate student, working together over a period of three years. All triplets will form a 

Quantum Information Science and Engineering Network (QISE-NET). This novel approach to integrating 

research, education, and technology transfer is highly convergent and crosscutting in nature, with 

representative triplets anticipated from the materials sciences, chemistry, device engineering, computer 

science, and physics. It aims to increase the number of students in the US with the knowledge, 

understanding, and expertise in multiple convergent fields serving the next quantum frontier. It also 

aims to increase the academia-industry interactions to advance technological goals by leveraging 

facilities and expertise, and sharing scientific and technical challenges. 

Another illustrative example is an FY 2016 award to the University of Nebraska at Omaha, under the 

leadership of Dr. Abhishek Parakh12• His team is developing a pedagogical game-based simulator that 

9 CAREER: Quantifying Noisy Quantum Resources, 

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD ID=1652560&Historica1Awards=false. 1

° CAREER: Interactions with Untrusted Quantum Devices, 

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD ID=1553477&Historica1Awards=false. 11 Convergence QL: Workshop Series: Cross-Sector Connections in Quantum Leap, 

https:/1 nsf .gov I awardsearch/ showAward? AW D I 0=17 4 7 426&Historica1Award s=false. 12 EDU: QuaSim: A Virtual Interactive Quantum Cryptography Educator-A Project-based Gamified Educational 

Paradigm, https://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD ID=1623380&Historica1Awards=false. 

8 
47 

provides students with an interactive experience to improve learning by transforming subject-based 

lectures in quantum cryptography into project-based virtual simulations. 

The Quantum leap Big Idea and the Role of Convergent Research and Co-Design in QIS 

In FY 2016, NSF announced a set of bold questions that will drive the agency's long-term research 

agenda-questions that will ensure future generations continue to reap the benefits of fundamental 

research. These 10 "Big Ideas" aim to capitalize on what NSF does best: catalyze interest and investment 

in fundamental research, which is the basis for discovery, invention, and innovation. The Big Ideas define 

a set of cutting-edge research agendas and processes that are suited for NSF's broad portfolio of 

investments, and will require collaborations with industry, private foundations, other agencies, science 

academies and societies, and universities. These ideas will push forward the frontiers of US research and 

provide innovative approaches to solve some of the most pressing problems the world faces, as well as 

lead to discoveries not yet known. They will provide platforms to bring together every field of study, 

from science and education, to engineering and astrophysics, to radically alter the conduct of science 

and engineering across the scientific enterprise in a manner that is not possible by simply continuing 

discipline-specific efforts at current levels. 

One of the 10 Big Ideas is focused on QIS. Called "The Quantum Leap: Leading the Next Quantum 

Revolution," this Big Idea aims to build upon and extend our existing knowledge of the quantum world, 

fostering breakthroughs in our fundamental understanding of quantum phenomena and enabling the 

exploitation of these phenomena to disrupt our science and engineering landscape. These advances will 

unleash the potential of the Nation's quantum-based scientific enterprise, economy, and security. 

Another of the 10 Big Ideas, a process Big Idea called "Growing Convergence Research at NSF," seeks the 

deep integration of knowledge, techniques, and expertise from multiple fields to form new and 

expanded frameworks for addressing scientific and societal challenges and opportunities. 13 Convergence 

is a necessary paradigm in the Quantum Leap and QIS, as transformational developments in QIS will 

come from ab initio collaborations across disciplines and from a new workforce conversant in these 

technologies. Within this framework there needs to be convergence of materials scientists, engineers to 

turn the materials into devices, physicists and chemists to develop methods of modelling, operating, 

controlling, and entangling the quasiparticle states, and computer scientists to develop efficient 

algorithms for programming and utilization of the final device. As an example, convergence research on 

decoherence will lead to our ability to design, build, and test a novel, stable qubit, construct a quantum 

computer based on such a qubit, and develop the skilled workforce needed to operate it. NSF is well 

positioned to enable this convergence research and co-design in QIS. 

To this end, NSF has established a Quantum Leap Working Group that is overseeing various activities 

and encouraging convergence and a deeper collaboration across disciplines. The work by the Quantum 

Leap Working Group has already resulted in several calls for proposals. For example, in FY 2017, NSF 

issued a call for summer schools, cross-sector awards, and community workshops 14, and funded two 

workshops and jointly funded with the US Department of Energy a quantum science summer school". 

13 Convergence Research at NSF, https://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/convergence/index.jsp. 14 Dear Colleague Letter: Growing Convergence Research at NSF, 

https: //www .n sf.gov /pu bs/20 17 /nsf17065/nsf17065. jsp. 15 NSF issues first Convergence awards, addressing societal challenges through scientific collaboration, 

https:f/www.nsf.gov/news/news summ.jsp ?cntn id=242889. 

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48 

NSF also launched a new program in FY 2017, Ideas lab: Practical Fully-Connected Quantum Computer 

Challenge (PFCQC), that challenged the research community with building a practical quantum computer 

through advances in hardware, software, and quantum algorithms 16• The program recently supported a 

week-long Ideas lab that brought together physics, engineering, and computer science; full proposals 

are due later this fall. These types of cross-disciplinary activities will help bridge the gap between various 

research fields, and fertilize future research directions. 

Coordination and Collaboration Across the Federal Government 

NSF's close coordination and collaboration with other Federal agencies pursuing QIS research and 

development is critically important in shaping its long-term investments. NSF coordinates closely with 

other stakeholder agencies as co-chair of the Interagency Working Group on Quantum Information 

Science (QIS IWG). An initial NSTC report, A Federal Vision for Quantum Information Science, was 

drafted with significant input from NSF representatives. In April2009, NSTC sponsored the Workshop on 

Quantum Information Science, and a report of the workshop was produced in July 200917• In October 

2014, the QIS IWG was chartered under the NSTC Committee on Science, and is currently chaired by 

DOE, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and NSF. 

In FY 2016, the QIS IWG led the development of the afirementioned NSTC report titled Advancing 

Quantum Information Science: National Challenges and Opportunities'. This report explores three key 

themes, and outlines the role of US government investment and associated path forward. The themes 

include: 

1. QIS and Technology, specifically technology developments in sensing and metrology, communication, 

simulation, and computing enabled by QIS; 

2. QIS and Fundamental Research, detailing the benefits of and need for continued fundamental 

research to grow the capacity of QIS in the future; and 

3. Addressing Impediments to Progress, which includes the need for convergence research crossing 

institutional boundaries, education and workforce training opportunities, increased emphasis on 

technology and knowledge transfer from the lab to the market, and stable funding sources to grow 

innovations in QIS and ensure sustained US leadership. 

The report notes NSF's role as the key agency in supporting QIS fundemantal research that spans 

multiple disciplines, education and workforce preparation, and technology transfer for research 

innovations. 

Beyond the specific efforts of the QIS IWG, NSF has collaborated with Federal agencies through various 

"mission-bridging" activities, including participating in various workshops and jointly funding research. 

For example, representatives from NSF actively participated in a February 2017 workshop on quantum 

testbeds convened by DOE18• That workshop sought to identify the individual capabilities and interests 

of various stakeholder groups in quantum computing hardware and its use for science applications; 

share best practices for management of collaborative research facilities, including topics such as 

16 Ideas lab: Practical Fully-Connected Quantum Computer Challenge (PFCQC), 

https://www. nsf. gov /pu bs/2017 /nsf17548/ nsf17 548.htm. 17 Report of the Workshop on Quantum Information Science, http://calyptus.caltech.edu/gis2009/QIS-WorkshopReport-1-July-2009.pdf. 

18 Quantum Testbeds Stakeholder Workshop, https://www.orau.gov/gtsws/default.htm. 

10 
49 

workforce training and building strong relationships with the research community; and identify 

technology that will be important for the success of a testbed facility with the goal of advancing 

quantum computing for scientific applications in the next five years. Similarly, NSF attended a NIST-Ied 

workshop in October 2017 that discussed opportunities for research and development; means and 

methods of inducing interaction and collaboration; support for emerging market areas; identifying 

barriers to near- and far-term applications; and understanding workforce needs19• 

Engaging with Industry: Transitioning to Practice 

NSF-funded QIS research has led to the formation of numerous start-up companies, enabling transition 

of research results to deployment and implementation. NSF has supported these start-ups through its 

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STIR) programs, 

which stimulate technological innovation in the private sector by strengthening the role of small 

business concerns in meeting Federal research and development needs, increasing the commercial 

application of Federally-supported research results, and fostering and encouraging participation by 

socially- and economically-disadvantaged, Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones), service 

disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and women-owned small businesses. Outcomes of several 

NSF-funded QIS research projects have led to NSF SBIR and STIR grants. For example, in FY 2017, NSF 

issued an SBIR Phase 1 award to Axion Technologies 20• Building on innovations from previous NSFfunded research, this Florida startup is developing a prototype of a quantum-based random number 

generator, which will aid in quantum cryptography. Similarly, the NSF Innovation Corps'" (1-Corps'") is a 

public-private partnership that teaches grantees to identify valuable product opportunities that emerge 

from academic research, and offers entrepreneurship training to student participants. Since the 

inception of the NSF 1-Corps program in 2011, severaii-Corps'" Teams in the QIS domain have 

participated in the 1-Corps'" curriculum. 

NSF also supports mutually-synergistic interactions with industry, including the participation of industry 

researchers at NSF-funded workshops and in invited talks at NSF. A number of NSF-funded researchers, 

particularly those working in larger, inter- or multidisciplinary teams, collaborate closely with industry to 

deepen and extend the outcomes of their research activities. 

Conclusions 

My testimony today has emphasized the potential presented by QIS in a wide range of areas, from 

secure communication that has game-changing potential for cybersecurity to novel therapeutics for 

treating some of our most vexing diseases to never-before-seen computing power for myriad other 

scientific, industrial, and societal challenges. NSF has made significant investments, across multiple 

directorates, in foundational and multidisciplinary QIS research over the last several decades. These 

investments have resulted in important advances that are giving rise to fundamentally new research 

directions and opportunities for the future. I have also described how NSF's interdisciplinary education 

research portfolios are contributing to a next-generation workforce capable of pursuing QIS research 

and taking on new jobs that will soon be created across multiple sectors of the economy. Across our 

19 Building the Foundations for Quantum Industry, https://www.nist.gov/news-events/events/2017 flO/buildingfoundations-quantum-industry. 

20 SBIR Phase 1: Quantum Random Walking for Ultra-High Speed, Parallel and Truly-random Number Generation, 

https:/lnsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD ID=l646995&Historica1Awards=false. 

11 
50 

research and education investments, NSF partnerships with other Federal agencies and industry are also 

helping to advance QIS and transition innovations into the marketplace. 

Our Nation needs to continue to invest in long-term, fundamental, and game-changing research- and 

education- if we are to maintain US leadership in an emerging quantum world. With sustained support 

for QIS research and development in both the executive and legislative branches, there is a unique 

opportunity for further breakthroughs in our fundamental understanding of the underlying physical 

phenomena and the development of radically new technologies that will form the basis of a new 

quantum world. As Microsoft's senior advisor to the chief executive officer and former chief research 

and strategy officer, Craig Mundie, recently stated about quantum computing, "For the first time in 70 

years we're looking at a way to build a computing system that is just completely different. It's not an 

incremental tune-up or improvement. It's a qualitatively different thing." 

This concludes my remarks. I appreciate the opportunity to have this dialogue with members of these 

Subcommittees on this very important and timely topic, and I would be happy to answer any questions 

at this time. 

12 
51 

Biographical Sketch 

JAMES F. KUROSE 

James F. Kurose is Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation for Computer and Information 

Science and Engineering (CISE). Prior to joining NSF, he was a Distinguished Professor in the School of 

Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he led research projects on 

computer network protocols and architecture, network measurement, sensor networks, multimedia 

communication, and modeling and performance evaluation. Dr. Kurose also currently serves as co-chair 

of the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRO) Subcommittee of 

the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Committee on Technology, providing overall 

coordination for the IT R&D activities of 18 federal government agencies and offices. 

At NSF, Dr. Kurose guides the CISE directorate in its mission to advance the Nation's leadership in 

computer and information science and engineering through its support for fundamental and 

transformative research, as well as the development and use of cyberinfrastructure across the science 

and engineering enterprise. These activities are critical to ensuring economic competitiveness and 

achieving national priorities. With a budget of over $900 million in FY 2017, CISE supports ambitious 

long-term research and innovation, advanced cyberinfrastructure to enable and accelerate discovery 

and innovation across all disciplines, broad interdisciplinary collaborations, and education and training 

of the next generation of computer scientists and information technology professionals with skills 

essential to success in the increasingly competitive, global market. 

Over the last three decades at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Dr. Kurose served in a number 

of administrative roles including chair of the Department of Computer Science, interim dean and 

executive associate dean of the College of Natural Sciences, and senior faculty advisor to the Vice 

Chancellor for Research and Engagement. He has been a visiting scientist at IBM Research, IN RIA, 

lnstitut EURECOM, the University of Paris, the laboratory for Information, Network and Communication 

Sciences, and Technicolor Research labs. He helped found and lead the Commonwealth Information 

Technology Initiative and the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center. 

He has served as editor-in-chief of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 

(IEEE) Transactions on Communications and was the founding editor-in-chief of the IEEE/ Association for 

Computing Machinery (ACM) Transactions an Networking. With Keith Ross, he coauthored the 

textbook, Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach, which is in its seventh edition. 

Dr. Kurose has received recognition for his research, including the IEEE International Conference on 

Computer Communications (INFOCOM) Achievement Award and the ACM Special Interest Group on 

Data Communications (SIGCOMM) lifetime Achievement and Test of Time awards. He has also been 

recognized for his educational activities, receiving the IEEE/CS Taylor Booth Education medal and the 

Massachusetts Telecommunication Council Workforce Development leader of the Year award. 

Dr. Kurose has served on a variety of advisory boards, including on the NSF/CISE Advisory Committee 

and the Board of Directors for the Computing Research Association. 

Dr. Kurose holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics from Wesleyan University, and a Master of Science 

and a Ph.D. in computer science from Columbia University. He is a fellow of the IEEE and ACM. 

13 
52 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you, and I now recognize Dr. 

Binkley for five minutes. 

TESTIMONY OF DR. JOHN STEPHEN BINKLEY, 

ACTING DIRECTOR OF SCIENCE, 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Dr. BINKLEY. Thank you, Chairwoman Comstock, Chairmen 

Weber, Ranking Member Lipinski, Ranking Member Veasey, and 

Members of the Subcommittee. I’m pleased to come before you 

today to discuss quantum information science and technology, the 

Department of Energy’s research efforts and interagency collaboration in this area, and where the United States stands relative to 

international competition. 

I am presently the Acting Director of the Office of Science at the 

U.S. Department of Energy. Quantum information science, or QIS, 

for short, which includes quantum computing, is a rapidly evolving 

area of science with great scientific and technology import, and because it will open new vistas for both science and technology development and hence new commercial markets, the U.S. and other 

countries are increasing investments in related basic research and 

technology development. DOE and other government agencies believe that QIS will continue to grow in importance in the coming 

decade and are planning our investments accordingly. 

Current and future QIS applications differ from earlier and ongoing applications of quantum mechanics such as those that led to 

the laser by exploiting distinct quantum behavior that does not 

have classical analogs and does not arise in non-quantum systems 

such as superposition and entanglement. 

Quantum information concepts are providing increasingly important—or providing increasingly important in advancing understanding across a surprisingly large range of fundamental topics in 

the physical sciences including the search for dark matter, the 

emergence of space time, testing of fundamental symmetries, the 

black hole information paradox, probing the interiors of cells in 

plants and animals, and possibly even photosynthesis. 

Furthermore, a wide range of applications of QIS are being explored including in sensing and metrology, communication, simulation, and computing. With these motivations, recent QIS advances 

have been rapid and international, and industry attention and investments have been growing. QIS clearly represents an emerging 

field with crosscutting importance across DOE Office of Science 

program offices. DOE is uniquely positioned to cover a wide range 

of QIS activities with expertise and capabilities in frontier computing, quantum materials, quantum information, control systems, 

production and use of isotopes, cryogenics and so on spanning the 

National Laboratory system and multiple program offices within 

the Office of Science. 

At the federal level, quantum information science has been a 

topic of interest to federal agencies for some time including NIST, 

the National Science Foundation, and DOE, which are working 

closely together and has garnered greater attention in the past few 

years due to a confluence of events, namely theoretical and technological progress in the field, the slowing of an apparently rapidly 
53 

approaching end to Moore’s Law, advancement in semiconductor 

technology and aggressive investments by other nations. 

DOE’s National Laboratories have unique attributes that are 

complementary to those of other agencies and could address gaps 

identified in the national ecosystem for quantum information 

science and technology. The Department of Energy labs are well 

equipped to address challenging problems in fundamental research 

that requires sustained efforts or are too large in scope for university research groups. DOE labs additionally stand out in their ability to fabricate and characterize novel materials and devices, their 

expertise in using high-performance computing resources, and their 

diverse range of high-caliber scientists and engineers that can form 

the basis of interdisciplinary teams, which are the type that are 

needed to solve QIS problems. 

Worldwide interest in QIS and related technology has increased 

substantially in the past five years. While the United States remains the leader in the field, other nations have made significant 

new investments and have developed long-term strategies that already have shifted geographical distribution of some top-tier research groups. The largest quantum information science and technology programs outside the United States are in China, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, and those countries are 

planning ambitious investments. 

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to come before you 

today to discuss the importance of QIS and the Department of Energy’s efforts in this area. I look forward to discussing this topic 

with you and answering your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Binkley follows:] 
54 

STATEMENT BY 

J. STEPHEN BINKLEY 

ACTING DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF SCIENCE, 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

BEFORE THE 

HOUSE SCIENCE, SPACE AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND 

TECHNOLOGY 

ON 

AMERICAN LEADERSHIP IN QUANTUM TECHNOLOGY 

OCTOBER 24, 2017 

Thank you Chairwoman Comstock, Chairman Weber, Ranking Member Lipinski, Ranking 

Member Veasy, and Members of the Subcommittees. I am pleased to come before you today to 

discuss quantum information science and technology, the Department of Energy's research 

efforts and interagency collaboration in this area, and where the U.S. stands relative to its 

international competition. 

Introduction 

Quantum Information Science (QIS), which includes quantum computing, is a rapidly evolving 

area of science with great scientific and technology import. It combines the important features of 

quantum theory, which was developed in the early Twentieth Century, with Information Theory, 

which was developed in the late 1940s. Because it will open new vistas for both science and 

technology development, and hence new commercial markets, the U.S. and other countries are 

increasing investments in related basic research and technology development. DOE and other 

U.S. Government (USG) agencies believe that QIS will continue to grow in importance in the 

coming decade and are planning appropriate investments accordingly. 

QIS-including quantum science and instrumentation tor next-generation computing, 

information, and other fields-arises from the synthesis of quantum theory and information 

theory. It springs from the recognition that uniquely quantum phenomena can be harnessed to 

advance information collection, processing, and fundamental understanding in ways that 

classical approaches can only do less efficiently, or not at all. Current and future QIS 

applications differ from earlier (and ongoing) applications of quantum mechanics, such as the 

laser, by exploiting distinct quantum behavior that does not have classical counterparts and does 

not arise in non-quantum systems, including: 

1 
55 

• Superposition--quantum particles or systems exist across all their possible states at the 

same time, with corresponding probabilities, until measured. 

• Entanglement-a superposition of states of multiple particles in which the properties of 

each particle are correlated with the others, regardless of distance. 

• Squeezing-a method of manipulating noise in systems that obey the Heisenberg 

uncertainty principle, by permitting large uncertainty in one variable to improve precision 

in another correlated variable. 

Quantum information concepts are proving increasingly important in advancing understanding 

across a surprisingly large range of fundamental science topics, including the search for dark 

matter, emergence of spacetime, testing of fundamental symmetries, the black hole information 

paradox, probing the interiors of biological cells, and possibly even photosynthesis and the 

navigation systems of migratory birds. Quantum approaches based on the characteristics listed 

above also show promise in providing new capabilities and tools to pursue fundamental research, 

such as advanced sensors and detectors. Furthermore, a wide range of applications of QIS are 

being explored including in sensing and metrology, communication, simulation, and computing. 

With these motivations, recent QIS advances have been rapid, and international and industry 

attention and investments have been growing. 

Program offices within the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Science (SC) have 

identified areas in which they have important or unique roles, and bring unusual capabilities to 

bear. Brief descriptions of these equities and contributions follow: 

• Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)-Strong foci in research, partnerships, 

and provision of leadership-class computing and networking resources to the research 

community. Key elements include providing early access to new technology, exploring 

the DOE-relevant application space in partnership with other SC programs, and ensuring 

that application needs inform next-generation device design and basic research programs 

in applied mathematics, networking, and computer science. 

• Biological and Environmental Research (BER)-QIS imaging and sensing approaches 

will expand experimental observation capabilities across varying environmental 

parameters or collocation of heterogeneous biological and physical materials. 

Understanding of biological, earth, and envirornnental systems via complex multi-scale 

models will be improved by development of faster and more powerful quantum 

computing devices, control systems, machine learning, and algorithms. 

• Basic Energy Sciences (BES)-Contributions center on advancing the control of quantum 

coherence and entanglement to enable applications encompassing information 

processing, secure communication, sensors, energy generation, and control of chemical 

reactions. Collectively, research and user facilities offer the tools and infrastructure to 

enable collaborative integration of advanced synthesis, fabrication, characterization, 

theory, modeling, testing, benchmarking, and development-to-scale to advance QIS. 

2 
56 

• High Energy Physics (HEP)-Primary emphases are on exploiting entanglement and 

QIS-driven technologies to address the HEP community's science drivers; developing 

new computational and foundational techniques; and broadly advancing the national QIS 

enterprise and ecosystem. With particular attention to partnerships, HEP plans a threeprong research approach including thrusts in Foundational QIS and Quantum Computing, 

Quantum Sensor Technology, and Experimental QIS. 

• Nuclear Physics (HPJ-Applications of quantum computing may include many-nucleon 

problems of relevance to nuclei, nuclear structure and reactions, and bulk nuclear matter. 

QIS may also impact solution of fundamental field theories that underlie nuclear physics, 

such as quantum chromodynamics. Experimental programs include manipulation and 

control of quantum systems such as trapped ions, and the DOE Isotope Program could 

produce enriched stable isotopes for novel quantum devices. 

Quantum information science clearly represents an emerging field with cross-cutting importance 

in most of the program offices ofDOE-SC. Both its fundamental and more applied aspects bear 

directly on the Office of Science mission: the delivery ofscientific discoveries and major 

scientific tools to transform our understanding of nature and to advance the energy, economic, 

and national security of the United States. Furthermore, DOE is uniquely positioned to cover a 

wide range ofQIS activities, with expertise and capabilities in frontier computing, quantum 

materials, quantum information, control systems, isotopes, and cryogenics spanning the National 

Laboratory system and multiple program offices. These considerations provide impetus now for 

community-building and initiatives across SC offices and with external counterparts. This 

document summarizes the interests, activities, and overall approach of the Office of Science in 

QIS.* 

Background and Context for Federal Activity 

Quantum information science has been a topic of interest to Federal agencies for some time, but 

has garnered greater attention in the past few years due to a confluence of events: theoretical and 

technological progress in the field, including the demonstration ofmultiple-qubit systems by 

numerous groups including companies; the advent of and controversies surrounding adiabatic 

quantum computers, or quantum annealers, on the open market; the slowing and apparently 

rapidly-approaching end of Moore' s-law advancement in semiconductor technology; and 

aggressive investment by other nations. The rapid progress of the field is also signaled by the 

growth in QIS-related publications, as shown here for 2000-2015 (figure from Advancing 

Quantum Information Science: National Challenges and Opportunities, NSTC report of July 

2016). 

* For convenience, in this document the term "quantum information science" or "QIS" will be used as shorthand, but is intended 

to encompass the full range of activity associated with quantum information, including basic science, tools, engineering, 

technology, and applications. 

3 
57 

Fifteen Years of Growth in QIS 

QIS-related publications, 2000-2015 

12,000 • 

10,000 ,~information 

iii 

>-"' -computing 

:;:; 8,000 <>. 

1:2 -communication 

"' <>. 

"' 0.. 6,000 

'0 

:;:; 

-"' E 4,000 

z " 

2,000 ......... 

Figure 1. A Google Scholar search for publications (excluding patents and citations) containing the terms 

"quantum infotmation," "quantum computing," and "quantum communication" i/lustmtes how the field 

has grown in recent years. 

The primary mechanism for high-level coordination of science and technology activities across 

Federal agencies is the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), an internal-togovernment body that is nominally chaired by the President and includes Cabinet-level (or, for 

independent agencies, Director-level) representation. The work of the NSTC is carried out 

through its many subgroups. In January 2009, an NSTC Subcommittee released a document 

entitled A Federal Vision for Quantum Information Science. While this addressed the challenges 

and opportunities at the time, further action in the next few years was limited. With subsequent 

rapid developments in the field, however, a new Interagency Working Group on Quantum 

Information Science was chartered under the NSTC in October of2014. That body, which is cochaired by DOE, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Institute of Standards 

and Technology (NIST), issued a report titled Advancing Quantum Information Science: 

National Challenges and Opportunities in July 20 16t. The report identified the major challenges 

to progress in QIS as: institutional boundaries; education/workforce needs; technology and 

t https://www. whitehouse.gov /sites/whitehouse.gov /files/images/Quantum_lnfo _Sci_Report_2016 _ 07 _22%20final.pdf 

4 
58 

knowledge transfer; materials and fabrication; and level and stability of funding. It highlighted a 

path forward founded on stable, sustained core programs; strategic targeted investments; and 

controlled growth, close monitoring, and adaptability, and emphasized that "QIS should be 

considered a priority for Federal coordination and investment." Building on release of that 

report, the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, 

with assistance from the QIS Working Group of the NSTC, hosted a Forum on QIS at the White 

House complex in October 2016. 

The NSTC Interagency Working Group on QIS continues to meet to exchange information, 

monitor developments, coordinate agency activities, and plan next steps. In addition, individual 

agencies-including DOE-have hosted or supported a large number ofQIS workshops or 

symposia and issued other studies in recent years (see References for a partial listing). Other 

agencies have also taken further action, such as the creation of a multi-directorate QIS 

"metaprogram" by NSF in 2016 and inclusion of "The Quantum Leap" that includes this topical 

area among NSF's 10 "Big Ideas" driving the long-term research. agenda for the agency. 

Efforts in QIS also relate to, and are referenced in, other major Federal initiatives. Qubit 

development and quantum computing are viewed as one path for post-Moore's-Law computing 

in the National Strategic Computing Initiative. Other connections include overlaps or synergies 

with the National Nanotechnology Initiative, the Materials Genome Initiative, and coordinated 

Federal efforts in optics and photonics. 

DOE Role in the Federal Interagency Context 

The DOE National Laboratory system is unique in the Nation with a history and proven track 

record of creating multidisciplinary scientific capabilities that are beyond the scope of academic 

and industrial institutions and to which the government requires assured access. Several of 

DOE's National Laboratories have been fostering research in various areas ofQIS as well as 

related topics in computer science and applied mathematics. HEP groups at several laboratories, 

including Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) are 

engaged in QIS technology research and development, quantum sensors, and in developing 

related techniques for data analysis. User and other facilities provide opportunities for possible 

interactions with other agencies and the researchers they support; for example, the BES-managed 

Nanoscale Science Research Center (NSRC) user facilities offer opportunities for synergies 

across the lab complex. NP groups at ANL, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Thomas Jefferson 

National Accelerator Facility, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), LBNL and Oak Ridge 

National Laboratory (ORNL) are engaged in the development and implementation of sensors, 

research and development on superconducting radio frequency (SRF) devices, cryogenic 

polarized nuclear spin targets, polarimetry, and atom trapping techniques, which may be useful 

in advancing QIS technology. Sandia National Laboratory is regarded as a world leader in the 

fabrication and operation of ion traps for qubit experimentation, and has ongoing activities in 

other QIS areas including validation and verification of quantum devices. LANL hosts aDWave quantum annealer that is available as a resource across the lab complex. ORNL fosters 

5 
59 

collaborations with external partners via its Quantum Computing Institute, and is the location of 

enriched stable isotope production capabilities developed for the DOE Isotope Program. 

DOE's National Laboratories thus have unique attributes that are complementary to those of 

other agencies and can address gaps identified in the national ecosystem for quantum 

information science and technology. The DOE labs are well-equipped to address challenging 

problems in fundamental research that require sustained focus or are too large in scope for a 

university research group. DOE's labs additionally stand out in their ability to fabricate and 

characterize novel materials and devices, their expertise in using high-performance computing 

resources, and their diverse range of high-caliber scientists and engineers that can form the basis 

of interdisciplinary teams. 

As noted earlier, DOE has been an active participant in ongoing interagency coordination on 

QIS, including co-chairing the NSTC Interagency Working Group in this area. Program offices 

in SC have invited representatives of other agencies to participate in QIS-related workshops and 

roundtables, and vice versa. In addition, various opportunities exist for informal or formal 

collaborations going forward, in which DOE's National Laboratory or other programmatic assets 

can accelerate progress in areas where other agencies have related mission-driven interests. For 

example, ASCR's interests overlap with several other agencies. ASCR shares with the 

Department of Defense (DoD) and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity an 

interest in advancing quantum computing technology, but with an application focus on science. 

In contrast with-but complementary to--NSF's blue-sky research approach, ASCR focuses on 

DOE-specific computing applications, research, and development to make the best use of DOE's 

high performance computing (HPC) resources. HEP has noted synergistic intellectual and 

technological interests and expertise with NIST and DoD in the areas of foundational quantum 

information, entanglement, and quantum sensors, and is exploring potential collaborations or 

other coordination in these areas. 

International Landscape 

Worldwide interest in quantum information science and technology has increased substantially in 

the past five years. While the U.S. remains a leader in the field, other nations have made new 

investments and developed long-term strategies that have already shifted the geographic 

distribution of top-tier research groups. Both academic researchers and industry have noted the 

U.S. Government's comparative silence relative to foreign governments' strong statements of 

support for quantum infonnation science and technology. Academic researchers in the U.S. have 

expressed concern that their foreign counterparts have better access to supporting technologies 

such as novel materials and custom optics. A summary of foreign QIS activity to date follows: 

• The largest quantum information science and technology programs outside the U.S. are in 

the European Union (EU) and China. In 2016, the EU announced a €1 billion ($1.1 

billion), 10-year Flagship initiative that is still in the planning stage. This is only the third 

EU Flagship project in future and emerging technologies; the prior ones, launched in 

2013, are on Graphene and the Human Brain Project. China dominates Asian investment 

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in QIS research and development with a large, rapidly growing program that initially 

focused on secure communication, including the widely publicized launch of an 

experimental quantum communications satellite in 2016, and is now expanding to other 

areas. The Chinese program includes industry partnership and lucrative offers to recruit 

top talent abroad. 

• The U.K. and Canada have made high-profile investments in a broad range of efforts that 

are smaller than those in the EU and China but large relative to each nation's overall 

science and technology effort. The U.K.'s program centers around four hubs, each of 

which is a partnership between universities and industry focused on a specific set of 

technologies (sensors, imaging, networking, and computing). The U.K. has also invested 

heavily (more than £200 million/$255 million USD) in student and postdoctoral training. 

Canada's program, in contrast to all the others, was spearheaded by private investment 

aiming to make Waterloo the quantum analogue to Silicon Valley. This has established 

the Perimeter Institute and University of Waterloo as leaders in QIS ranging from bluesky theory to practical devices and algorithms, and led to a large award ($76 million 

CAD/$56 million USD) in 2016 from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. 

• Australia and the Netherlands have made targeted, high-profile investments in quantum 

computing. Australia's 2016 National Innovation and Science Agenda included a $70 

million AUD ($53 million USD) public-private partnership to advance quantum 

computing for commercial applications that is complementary to a new $33 million AUD 

($25 million USD) fundamental research effort to support the scale-up of silicon quantum 

integrated circuits. The Netherlands' 2015 investment of€135 million ($144 million) in a 

center focused on superconducting and silicon-based computing technologies in Delft has 

attracted additional investment from U.S. industry, including $50 million from Intel. The 

Netherlands is also home to a government-funded quantum software research center. 

• A number of countries without a coordinated national QIS agenda or initiative 

nonetheless have strong, well-funded research groups. These include Germany, Austria, 

Switzerland, Japan, and Singapore. Other countries that have not traditionally been 

leaders in QIS, such as Russia and Brazil, appear to be building national research 

communities. 

Summary of Scientific Challenges and Office of Science-Specific Efforts 

Quantum Science-Coherence and Entanglement of Quantum States 

Materials and Synthesis 

Real quantum materials require synthesis. There remains a fundamental science gap that is an 

obstacle to the long-term goal of "synthesis by design." This goal requires establishing 

generalized rules of assembly for complex materials in a variety of platforms, in order to 

determine, understand, and control reaction/synthesis/deposition/assembly pathways for 

metastable, kinetically stabilized, and thermodynamic phases of quantum materials. Resulting 

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new functionalities could include superconductivity and robust entangled states approaching 

room temperature, or dissipationless charge and spin transport relevant to quantum computation, 

neuromorphic computing, and ultra-low loss digital computation beyond silicon. Conversely, 

understanding of fundamentals of competitive heat/electron transfer could demonstrate 

limitations on quantum computation. Research on materials synthesis and processing falls 

largely within the purview of BES. In addition, the DOE Isotope Program, managed by NP, is 

developing the capability to produce kilogram quantities of enriched stable isotopes in a costeffective manner. This may be useful in the synthesis of new materials for research and 

development studies of solid-state qubit systems. 

Instrumentation for Quantum Control: Sensing and Metrology 

Existing capabilities and instrumentation development for measurement and control of quantum 

phenomena are widespread across SC program offices. In BER, there is particular interest in 

development of sensors that combine quantum metrology and quantum imaging for more 

accurate measurements using optical sensor systems, such as Lidar (Light Detection and 

Ranging) instruments at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement facility. Another BER focus is 

development of highly precise sensors to allow single molecule nuclear magnetic resonance of 

biomolecules. For HEP, the possibility exists of development of specialized cavity sensors for 

detecting new particles and quanta in previously inaccessible frequencies and with greater 

sensitivity than currently available. Some of the technologies being developed for quantum 

computing are also candidates for sophisticated sensors for particle physics experiments. HEP 

also has a strong interest in the use of atomic interferometry and entanglement for discoveries of 

the unknown and Beyond Standard Model physics. Similarly, NP anticipates that development 

of detectors and SRF technology for nuclear physics experiments may be relevant to 

instrumentation for quantum control. Examples include use of highly efficient quantum dot 

sensors for light collection in experiments to search for lepton number violation in nuclear 

decays, and exploitation of quantum effects for precision measurements of the electric dipole 

moment of nuclei to search for violations of fundamental symmetries of nature. BES efforts 

employ a variety of characterization techniques that have relevance for QIS. Scattering, 

spectroscopy, and imaging of quantum materials using neutrons, x-rays, and electrons as probes 

over a broad range of length and time scales can characterize their phenomenological behavior, 

lead to the discovery of new materials, and inform theories that predict and explain their 

properties. These tools can also contribute to development of quantum sensors and detectors. 

Theory and Modeling of Quantum Entanglement 

Research within the scope of HEP at the intersection of particle physics and QIS has formulated 

relationships between quantum fields, black hole physics, and information entanglement, 

invoking quantum error correction codes and quantum gravity. Tensor networks provide new 

models to understand fields, particles, and their interactions. New quantum algorithms and 

simulations that can incorporate scattering dynamics in hitherto static lattice quantum 

chromodynamics (QCD) analyses are planned. BES further notes that quantum computing could 

enable fast algorithms for computation of quantum entanglement. Theory efforts could analyze 

entanglement entropy in systems with known solutions. Decoherence in entangled systems 

could potentially be understood via molecular magnets, through their evolution into systems with 

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weakly interacting spins. ASCR plans to explore partnerships with other SC offices (BES, HEP, 

BER, and NP) to develop tools and algoritlnns for modeling and simulations, in order to 

accelerate the computation and understanding of quantum entanglement in different systems. 

Quantum Devices and Systems for Computing, Information, and other Applications 

Qubit Technologies 

Many candidate systems have been explored or proposed for qubits, the basic building blocks for 

quantum computing that embody superposition of states. Implementing these systems involves a 

variety of issues, including not just the specific material properties but also manufacturability, 

scalability, stability, integration, and other concerns. Some potentially useful materials for qubit 

systems include Josephson junction arrays (high-temperature superconductors), trapped ions, 

quantum dots, nitrogen-vacancy complexes (NV centers) in diamond or other localized defect 

structures, topological insulators and two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) systems that support 

the fractional quantum Hall effect, fractionally charged particles or Majorana fermions that lead 

to non-Abelian statistics, skyrmions miniaturized to the atomic level, and nano-magnets with 

non-Abelian anyons as excitations. DOE BES research and facilities already encompass 

investigations in many of these areas, and in particular the NSRC user facilities are well-suited to 

advance the fabrication and testing of these materials. In addition, the DOE Isotope Program, 

managed by NP, produces highly pure stable isotopes that could be used in the manufacture of 

solid-state qubits. 

Quantum Sensors and Detectors 

Almost any device developed as a qubit system for quantum computing can also be regarded as a 

quantum sensor, with potential applications to precision measurements and detection of particles 

across the entire range of topics of interest to SC. As such systems are explored, opportunities 

arise to exploit the extreme sensitivity of quantum materials for sensing and detection by 

understanding their electronic phase transitions. Electronic, magnetic, and structural properties 

and ultrafast dynamics can be investigated with tools including pump-probe experiments at 

femtosecond resolution, ultra-high field neutron scattering, angle-resolved photoemission, and 

scanning probe imaging. Ultrasensitive magnetometers can be constructed based on NV centers, 

and single-photon detectors based on quantum aspects of superconducting materials. The 

NSRCs under BES are capable of fabrication over the necessary spatial and temporal scales, and 

extensive characterization capabilities are available through other SC user facilities and National 

Laboratory capabilities. Development of detectors and superconducting radio-frequency 

technology for nuclear physics experiments may be relevant to instrumentation for quantum 

control. Note also that HEP has specifically identified development and use of quantum sensor 

technology across the HEP science drivers as a key part of the HEP plan for increased activity in 

QIS. 

Fabrication and Testbeds 

Testbeds provide the research community with access to early stage devices, accelerating 

through co-design the development of hardware well-suited to scientific computing as well as 

applications that make effective use of new hardware. They can potentially serve as standardized 

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environments for examining the preservation of coherence, extent of entanglement, and other key 

criteria. In addition to testing and benchmarking of individual devices, testbeds can facilitate 

intercomparison of different devices and are a helpful tool for developing production-quality 

software for novel computing architectures. For these reasons, ASCR issued a program 

announcement to DOE National Laboratories for research into development of quantum test beds 

in May 2017. Multidisciplinary efforts to explore the suitability of various implementations of 

quantum devices for science applications will advance engineering of quantum information 

systems and help to define and perhaps overcome practical limitations. Furthermore, device 

fabrication and testbeds will greatly benefit from strong collaboration between government 

agencies, academia, and industry. National Laboratory facilities are well-positioned in 

capabilities and infrastructure to enable the needed collaborative integration of advanced 

synthesis, fabrication, characterization, theory, modeling, testing, benchmarking, and 

development-to-scale. 

Novel Architectures, Quantum Simulators/Emulators, and Systems-Level Control 

Exploration of novel architectures ranging from the device level (qubit connectivity; hybrid 

systems of different types ofqubits) through the system level (quantum/classical co-processors; 

quantum devices as HPC accelerators) will allow DOE to invest in the quantum computing 

technologies best-suited to mission needs. Some applications, such as quantum chemistry, appear 

to benefit from an approach that pairs classical feedback with inherently quantum processing. 

Other applications may run best on a larger quantum processor with classical computing only 

required for control. Qubit simulators will facilitate early exploration of architectures; emulators 

that parameterize key features of larger quantum devices will allow efficient system-level design 

that can proceed hand-in-hand with research and development in systems-level control. 

Algorithms 

Solving the wide variety of computational problems addressed by DOE and SC will require 

quantum computing to support a robust and versatile set of algorithms. Research into quantum 

speedups for basic primitives of applied mathematics such as linear algebra, integration, 

optimization, and graph theory will lay the groundwork to develop and optimize quantum 

simulation and machine learning algorithms for performing a wide variety of scientific 

computing tasks. An initial program announcement to DOE National Laboratories regarding the 

development of quantum algorithm teams was released by ASCR in May 2017. 

Software Implementation and Reliability 

Practical realization of quantum computing's potential will depend not only on advances in 

hardware and algorithms but also on advances in optimizing languages and compilers to translate 

these abstract algorithms into concrete sequences of realizable quantum gates, and simulators to 

test and verify these sequences. A systematic research agenda to develop a software 

infrastructure from high-level languages to debuggers and benchmarking metrics, when executed 

in coordination with hardware and architecture design, will also lead to effective strategies that 

find balance between systems-level control and error correction. 

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Quantum Networks and Complexity 

Significant research effort is needed to develop, test, and deploy continental scale Quantum 

Wide Area Networks (Q-W ANs) composed of many nodes, multi-hops, multi-users, and highspeed optical quantum channels. Fundamental to this endeavor is the development of highperformance quantum communication network components needed to secure distributed 

quantum systems processing and sharing data sets over continental distances. Among them are a 

number of critical components such as quantum communication network hardware, architectures, 

and protocols; quantum-enabled software defined networks (Q-SDN); and all-optical network 

(AON) extension for quantum key distribution (QKD) and understanding QKD security 

loopholes. 

Applications of Quantum Computing and Quantum Information 

Early Science Applications 

Initial scientific impacts and approaches that can be pursued prior to, or on the path towards, 

longer-term developments have been identified by SC program offices within their respective 

portfolios, as follows: 

Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) 

In partnership with HEP, ASCR sponsored a pilot project that seeks to develop fast quantum and 

classical algorithms for simulating quantum field theories. Such pilot projects will provide 

valuable feedback in the planning of larger partnership programs that target multiple science 

application areas. In addition, quantum testbeds will assist with meaningful evaluation and 

comparison of different materials, devices, algorithms, and approaches. 

High Energy Physics (HEP) 

HEP quantum computing interests include use of quantum machine learning and quantum 

devices for data analysis. Some of these tasks may be amenable to quantum annealing 

approaches that are available now, rather than requiring a general-purpose quantum computer far 

beyond what is currently achievable. To that end, HEP has sponsored a pilot project on using a 

D-Wave system for Higgs event classifier tests. In addition, the lattice QCD algorithms 

mentioned above are expected to be designed for quantum computers or simulators. HEP also 

supports several other QIS pilot efforts, including one jointly with BES on dynamics of highlyentangled quantum states that has already yielded several publications. Small-scale experiments 

to test foundational entanglement and quantum gravity predictions are planned. 

Basic Energy Sciences (BES) 

Early activity includes exploration of quantum many-body problems in magnetism, molecular 

magnetism, superconductivity, quantum chemistry, and topological states of matter. Near-term 

efforts could also include investigation of fractional quantum Hall effect, Heisenberg and multiorbital Hubbard models as testbeds. Overlapping/complementary efforts with lattice QCD are 

under consideration as well. 

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Biological and Environmental Research (BER) 

Identified areas of early science include: (I) Creation of novel quantum sensors I use of 

nanostructured quantum materials to perform noninvasive sensing, monitoring, and imaging of 

subcellular biological processes in microbes, microbial communities, and plants. This would 

enable understanding ofbiomolecular structure-function relationships and provide insights into 

the spatio-temporal nature of metabolism within/among cells. (2) Creation of novel quantum 

devices for environmental sensing and observations, able to be deployed at field sites relevant to 

bioenergy crop production, sensitive earth system geographies (e.g., Arctic permafrost), or 

radioactive contamination. These quantum devices would be optimized so multimodal data sets 

with spatial and temporal dimensions can be combined. 

Nuclear Physics (NP) 

A research group has been formed at the Institute of Nuclear Theory at the University of 

Washington in Seattle that will investigate possible applications of quantum computing to 

important problems in nuclear physics. Initial NP applications will likely be analogous to the 

existing applications in quantum chemistry, which are concerned with many-body quantum 

mechanical systems. In nuclear physics, the systems of greatest interest in this category are 

nuclei and bulk nuclear matter, which can be treated as many-fermion (neutron and proton) 

quantum mechanical systems interacting through pairwise and three-body nuclear forces. The 

standard quantum mechanical problems for these systems are the determination of ground-state 

energies and their many-body wavefunctions, the corresponding excited-state energies and 

wavefunctions (nuclear structure); quantum scattering problems (nuclear reactions); and more 

complicated time-dependent phenomena such as collective excitations and nuclear fission. 

Presumably the ultimate goal of QC research in NP will be to simulate the equations of QCD, the 

fundamental quantum field theory of quarks and gluons that underlies nuclear physics. Possible 

approaches to simulating simpler versions of quantum field theories, such as scalar field theories 

in two dimensions, would be early applications of great interest; practical algorithms for this type 

of problem have not yet been developed. 

DOE-SC Collaborations and Longer-Term Directions 

The 2015 DOE ASCR Workshop on Quantum Computing for Science made a compelling case 

for the potential of quantum computing's impact for a number and variety of problems of 

strategic importance to DOE and SC that are presently limited by the capabilities of conventional 

high-performance computing. ASCR is leveraging its 15-year experience with the Scientific 

Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program to form partnerships with the other 

SC program offices via a similar but not necessarily identical model. The general approach will 

be to tap into the appropriate range of expertise in DOE national laboratories, universities, and 

other research organizations including industry, but also to ensure that the resulting tools, 

methods, and resources will be available to the wider QIS community. 

Recent DOE reports on quantum sensors (HEP and ASCR) and quantum materials (BES) set out 

research directions and needs in greater detail. The sensors roundtable report identifies 

challenges where the science drivers identified earlier by the High Energy Physics Advisory 

Panel (HEP AP) Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) could be pursued via small 

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experiments using quantum entangled sensors and precision measurements beyond our 

conventional frontiers of study, and also addresses improved performance of qubit ensembles, 

optimization of quantum networks, materials development, hybrid technologies for multimodal 

functionality, and new theoretical approaches. The quantum materials workshop report details 

priority research directions in control and exploitation of electronic interactions and quantum 

fluctuations, harnessing of topological states, control of coherence and entanglement in 

nanostructures, and revolutionary tools to accelerate discovery and deployment of quantum 

materials. It also summarizes status, challenges, and opportunities in superconductivity and 

charge order, magnetism, transport and dynamics, topological behavior, and heterogeneity and 

nanostructure in quantum materials. For NP, it is envisioned that SciDAC and exascale 

computing collaborations, especially those involved in lattice QCD and many-body NP 

problems, will closely monitor progress in quantum computing and may adjust their research 

programs to take advantage of any useful developments. BER expects to engage in development 

of quantum computing/storage/information processing testbeds for multi-scale earth system 

modeling, and of biology testbeds that combine simulation methods with experimental data 

collection facilities so that real time feedback can be provided from computation to help guide 

the experiment. This would require extensive improvements in the scale of codes on 

supercomputers, real time analysis, better uncertainty quantification, improved load balancing, 

and methods for analysis of very large eigenvalue problems. Additional areas of considerable 

scientific interest across one or more program offices include quantum chemistry and 

applications to machine learning. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, quantum information science and technology is rapidly evolving, will continue to 

grow in the coming decade. QIS holds great potential for broad range of near-term and long-term 

applications from sensing and metrology, communications, simulation, and quantum computing 

and is rapidly gaining international and industry attention. The DOE has been integrally engaged 

in the interagency and community plarming to advance QIS research in the U.S. and the DOE 

laboratories are well positioned to bring their unique attributes and capabilities to bear on many 

of the scientific challenges and knowledge gaps we face. Federal coordination and investment is 

critical to continued U.S. scientific leadership in this area, with implications for not only 

advancing scientific discovery in a number of fields, but continued U.S. economic 

competitiveness and national security. 

Thank you for the opportunity to come before you today to discuss the Department of Energy's 

efforts in quantum information science. I look forward to discussion this topic with you and 

answering your questions. 

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References 

Some selected documents from DOE SC, DOE National Laboratories, other Federal agencies, 

and major foreign entities are listed below. Many other workshops and symposia in QIS and 

related topics, organized by Federal agencies, professional societies, universities, and others, 

have been held in the past few years but are not included here. 

HEP-ASCR Study Group Report, Grand Challenges at the Interface of Quantum 

Information Science, Particle Physics, and Computing, 2015, 

https://science.energy.gov/-/media/hep/pdJ!files/Banner%20PDFs/QIS Study Group Re 

port. pdf 

HEP-BES roundtable report, "Common Problems in Condensed Matter and High Energy 

Physics", 2015, https:/lsciencc.encrgy.gov/~/mcdia/hep/pdf/RepO!ts/HEPBES Roundtable Report.pdf 

LANL workshop report, "Materials Frontiers to Empower Quantum Computing", 2015, 

http://pennalink.lanl.gov/object/tr?what=info: lanl-repo/larcport/LA -UR -15-24 3 86 

ASCR Report on Quantum Computing for Science, 2015, 

https://science.energy.gov/-lmedialascr/pdfi'programdocuments/docs/ASCRQuantumRep 

ort-final.pdf 

Quantum Manifesto: A New Era ofTechnology, 2016, 

http://qurope.cu/system/filesiu7/93056 Quantum%20Manifesto WEB.pdf 

European Commission webpage on Quantum Technologies, including the Future and 

Emerging Technologies Flagship initiative in this area: 

https:/lec.curopa.eu/digital-singlc-market!e!11

policies/quantum-technologies 

HEP-ASCR QIS roundtable report, "Quantum Sensors at the Intersections of 

Fundamental Science, QIS and Computing", 2016, 

http://science.energy.gov/-/media/hcp/pdf7Reports/DOE Quantum Sensors Report.pdf 

NTSC report, "Advancing Quantum Information Science: National Challenges and 

Opportunities", 2016, 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/images/Quantum Info Sci Repo 

rt 2016 07 22%20final.pdf 

National Strategic Computing Initiative Strategic Plan, 2016, 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/tiles/images/NSCI%20Strategic%20PI 

an. pdf 

National Nanotechnology Initiative white paper, "A Federal Vision for Future 

Computing: A Nanotechnology-Inspired Grand Challenge", 2016, 

https://www.nano.gov/sites;defimlt/files/pub resource/federal-vision-for-nanotechinspired-future-computing-grand-challenge.pdf 

BES Basic Research Needs Workshop on Quantum Materials for Energy Relevant 

Technology, 2016, 

https://science.energv.gov/-/media/bes/pdf!rcpO!is/20 16/BRNQM rot Final l2-09-

2016.pdf 

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• NSF Dear Colleague Letter: Funding Opportunity- A "Quantum Leap" Demonstration of 

Topological Quantum Computing, 2017, 

https://www.nsfgov/pubs/20 l7/nsfl7053/nsfl7053.jsp 

ASCR Quantum Testbeds Stakeholder Workshop, 2017, 

https:/ /www .orau.gov/ gtsws/ default. htm 

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Bio for J. Stephen Binkley 

Acting Director, Office of Science 

Deputy Director for Science Programs 

Department of Energy 

J. Stephen (Steve) Binkley is the Deputy Director for Science Programs in the Office of Science (SC) at the 

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). In this capacity, Dr. Binkley is the senior career science official in the 

Office of Science, which is third largest Federal sponsor of basic research in the United States, the 

primary supporter of the physical sciences in the U.S., and one of the premier science organizations in 

the world. 

As Deputy Director for Science Programs, Dr. Binkley provides scientific and management oversight for 

the six science programs of the Office of Science (basic energy sciences, biological and environmental 

research, fusion energy sciences, advanced scientific computing research, high energy physics, and 

nuclear physics), for workforce development for teachers and scientists, and for construction project 

assessment. The Office of Science supports research at 300 colleges and universities nationwide, at DOE 

laboratories, and at other private institutions. 

Dr. Binkley has held senior positions at Sandia National laboratories, the Department of Homeland 

Security (DHS), and the Department of Energy. He has conducted research in theoretical chemistry, 

materials science, computer science, applied mathematics, and microelectronics. At Sandia, Dr. Binkley 

managed computer science, fundamental chemistry, combustion science, and chemically reacting flow 

organizations. He also has served as the manager for the Office of Science's Combustion Research 

Facility, at Sandia's livermore, California location. Dr. Binkley managed Sandia's Office of Science 

Program, comprising activities in materials science, chemistry, geoscience, magnetic fusion energy, 

atmospheric measurement technology, and scientific computing at Sandia's New Mexico and California 

locations. He also managed Sandia's program in distributed information systems technology. 

At DOE, Dr. Binkley served as a technical advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense Programs 

(subsequently the Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs after the establishment of the National 

Nuclear Security Administration). At DHS, Dr. Binkley served as the deputy director for technology within 

the DHS Operations Directorate, where he led and managed the development of systems for monitoring 

and disseminating situational awareness to federal, state, and local law-enforcement organizations and 

for coordinating emergency response activities. Returning to DOE in 2006, Dr. Binkley served as a senior 

technical advisor to the Under Secretary for Science and the Director of the Office of Science. 

As head of SC's Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Dr. Binkley served as one of the 

Associate Directors for the Office of Science, and was responsible for the overall management of the 

ASCR program including: strategic planning; budget formulation and execution; project management; 

program integration with other Office of Science activities and with the DOE technology offices; and 

interagency integration. 

Dr. Binkley's present research interests include high-accuracy determination of properties of atoms and 

molecules, high-fidelity simulation of complex systems such as combustion devices, and the underlying 

computer science of massively parallel computers and large-data systems. 
70 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you, and I now recognize myself 

for five minutes of questions, and this is definitely an intimidating 

topic. Thank you for your testimony. 

Now, Dr. Kurose, conversations around STEM education are 

often closely tied to demand for certain jobs, and without knowing 

the exact workforce needs surrounding quantum just yet, how do 

we prepare for such a workforce, and how can young people be directed? If they’re interested in this, what should they be doing 

now? 

Dr. KUROSE. Thank you very much for the question, and it’s really great. And maybe let me highlight education and educational opportunities at different levels, and I’ll start at the graduate level 

because I mentioned that in my testimony. Remember that the 

generation of researchers who are going to push us forward in QIS, 

they’re in labs now and they’re graduate students and they’re 

postdocs working in those labs now. Those researchers will then be 

taking their education out and spreading it and using it in industry, for example. At the undergraduate level, we’re seeing courses 

now in quantum. We’re seeing seminar courses there. So I think at 

the undergraduate level, we’re beginning to see the educational opportunities appear. 

When we think about the workforce more broadly, I think we 

really need to think about the STEM pipeline and address issues 

in K–12. I would say there are focus areas in particular, the notion 

of computational thinking that the National Science Foundation 

and other agencies have led in terms of computer science for all 

and computer science principles. Access to a rigorous and engaging 

computer science education at the high school level will really help 

prepare the students in middle schools and in high schools for engaging in computer science and in STEM more broadly, I think, at 

the college level. 

Maybe one other area that I might like to highlight is that when 

you look at the people that you’ve invited here to testify that you’ll 

see you have engineers, you have computer scientists, you have 

physicists, and it’s really going to take participation from across all 

of the STEM disciplines to make QIS really happen. And so it’s important broadly across STEM that we train the next generation of 

researchers. 

Yes, my area is computer science so I think it’s incredibly important but this is an area that all of STEM—engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, chemistry, computer science—are going 

to have to be involved. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. And then how would a national quantum initiative meet the challenge to attract and retain U.S. talent 

in this field given the significant challenges for all of you. Any of 

you who’d like to answer on that? 

Dr. WILLIAMS. So should Congress and the Executive Branch decide to have a quantum initiative in this area, we’d be happy to 

work with you to help address some of the impediments that were 

listed in the 2016 document, and to foster that broader ecosystem 

that’s going to be necessary to translate this from academia and 

the National Labs into our industrial base because it is that translation into the industrial base that is key. 
71 

Dr. KUROSE. I might add that I think our collective sense is that 

we’re at an inflection point with QIS. For many years—and the investments by our agencies go back many, many years that everybody knew quantum was going to be something very, very important, and we were doing the foundational work. I think especially 

if you look at industry, you look at what’s happening in the laboratories in academia across the United States, there’s a sense that 

things have manifestly changed in the last couple of years and now 

we’re seeing programmable computers. Chris Monroe from the University of Maryland will be one of the witnesses in the next panel. 

You have IBM. Both of them have made general purpose or programming capabilities available on real quantum hardware at this 

point. I think that was the dream five years ago. We’re realizing 

that reality now. It’s going to be a while until we get enough qubits 

and we can do meaningful computations at scale but we’re seeing 

this now in the real world. We’re seeing on hands-on abilities to actually experiment with these systems. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you. I appreciated that. 

And I will now yield to the Ranking Member, Mr. Lipinski, for 

his questions. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. Thank you. I want to continue on a bit with the 

Chairwoman’s questions but I’ll just start out by talking about 

something that’s already been brought up about China launching 

the quantum-enabled satellite transmittal to secure data, the 

1,200-mile quantum communications link between Shanghai and 

Beijing. China has also recently announced a $10 billion quantum 

computing center. Europe is also heavily investing in quantum information science as are other nations. 

So the question is, where do we go and what do we need to do 

from here? Unfortunately, the Trump Administration budget proposed an 11 percent cut to NIST, a 6.6 percent cut to quantum information science—actually an 11 percent cut to NSF, 6.6 percent 

cut to quantum information science at NIST, and 16 percent cut to 

DOE’s Basic Energy Sciences program where Dr. Binkley just testified that much of quantum research is supported. So obviously 

these cuts would presumably be harmful. What do we need to do? 

What would you recommend that we do? Obviously the federal government is not going to, you know, spend—go to any length, spend 

any amount of money, but we certainly need to do something. The 

idea of having a quantum initiative I think is a great idea. I’m very 

hopeful that we’ll be working on that. We have a National Nanotechnology Initiative. I think a quantum initiative would be great 

to have, as I think the Chairwoman was talking about, but what 

do you think that we need to do from the federal government level? 

Obviously it’s not just the federal government involved. There’s 

also the private sector. But what would you like to see happen? 

How much of an investment do we have to make so that the United 

States does not really fall behind and miss this? So let’s start with 

Dr. Williams. Any ideas that you would have, what you would suggest? 

Dr. WILLIAMS. So I think in winning this game that it is not just 

what the role of the U.S. government, it’s also the commitments by 

American industry. We need to all work together, and moreover, 

we need to transition the knowledge base that is currently largely 
72 

in academia and universities and a few small research environments in industry to where more industry is aware. Because, 

again, if you look at the broader making up of something like an 

iPhone or anything else so we can talk about the qPhone in the future, there are many manufacturers that have to come in, and so 

arranging for all those OEM companies to be engaged, make them 

aware, to bring them to the table, and so a lot of the impediments 

that are talked about in the 2016 documents, which is multidisciplinary in nature, must be addressed but we also must address 

pulling the technology out until there is a real pull from industry 

because at the moment it’s a push because they don’t see how to 

make a profit in this area. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. Dr. Kurose? 

Dr. KUROSE. Well, actually I’d like to second Dr. Williams’ comments. If you look at industry and you see, you know, over the last 

year where Google and Microsoft and IBM and Intel have been 

doing, it’s clear there’s really—when we talked about an inflection 

point earlier, there’s very much increased interest in academia. 

And you’d mentioned the word partnership so I think partnerships 

with industry are going to be very important. I mentioned the tire 

tracks diagram in the information technology area. We have a long 

history of establishing partnerships between academic institutions 

with industry and government in a triangle, if you will. At the National Science Foundation, for example, we’ve done partnerships 

with Intel, with Semiconductor Research Corporation, with 

VMware on joint solicitations. This is basic fundamental research, 

because that’s still what’s needed now, basic fundamental research, 

but industry can bring a lot to the table. Other aspects of partnership, again to echo what Dr. Williams was saying, is partnerships 

among disciplines, you know, bringing together the physicists, the 

engineers, the computer scientists, we would say up the technology 

stack, if you will, from the qubits all the way at the very bottom 

all the way up to the programming at the top. And then again, 

partnerships among agencies, which I believe all three of us have 

already talked about. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. Dr. Binkley? 

Dr. BINKLEY. Just very briefly, the one point that I would add 

to what my counterparts have suggested is if you look historically, 

one of the greatest strengths of U.S. science programs has been the 

emphasis on basic science, and by contrast, if one looks at the efforts that are being put forward both in the European Union and 

the United Kingdom, they have a very strong technology focus, and 

I think that we should not lose sight of the fact that much of the 

innovation that is necessary for making rapid progress in this area 

does actually come out of the basic science, and so continued investments in the basic science is, I think, at this point very important to sustain. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. Thank you. I yield back. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. I now recognize Mr. Weber for five minutes. 

Mr. WEBER. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Doctor—well, first of all, let me do it this way. Dr. Williams, how 

long have you been involved in the quantum field? 
73 

Dr. WILLIAMS. So formally, NIST has had a program since the 

year 2000, and I’ve been engaged in there. I was at the first workshop that I think was solely focused on QIS back in 1994 that was 

held at NIST shortly after Peter Shore came up with his algorithm. 

Mr. WEBER. Okay. Dr. Kurose? 

Dr. KUROSE. Well, I have an undergraduate degree in physics 

and learned quantum mechanics as an undergraduate but my involvement with QIS research began when I came to the National 

Science Foundation three years ago. 

Mr. WEBER. So that’s 2014. 

Dr. Binkley? 

Dr. BINKLEY. I did my Ph.D. work in quantum chemistry and got 

my Ph.D. in 1976, and I’ve been involved in quantum theory and 

quantum-related work ever since. 

Mr. WEBER. Good gracious. Okay. You should be a quantum leap 

ahead of everybody else. 

Dr. BINKLEY. Sir, I’m afraid it’s a terribly difficult subject. 

Mr. WEBER. I understand. 

Dr. Kurose, your written testimony touches on the differences between classical computing like the exascale computing systems 

we’ve heard so much about in this Committee, and quantum computing. Explain the difference for us as briefly as you can. 

Dr. KUROSE. Okay. Well, in traditional supercomputers, for example, information is stored in bits, ones and zeros, and we operate 

on those bits, so we perform operations and all kinds of transformations. That’s the way computing technology has been done 

since its invention 70 years ago. Cubits, as my colleagues with 

Ph.D.’s in physics can tell you better than I can, are a very different piece. They don’t exist in the one-zero state; they exist in a 

superposition of states, and from a computing standpoint, that allows one to rather than compute deterministically over ones and 

zeros to deal with probability distributions of how the states of the 

qubits are in the entanglement, the interrelationship between these 

qubits. It’s a fundamentally different way of thinking about computation and moving from ones and zeros to these qubits. 

Mr. WEBER. Okay, to an identifiable state, either one or zero, and 

now to a single particle that has the ability to do both? 

Dr. KUROSE. Right, and I would say in the end, you need an answer that has ones and zeros and so there is going to be a very 

important coupling between the digital systems that control and 

program these quantum computers and the quantum technology 

that’s lying at the base underneath. 

Mr. WEBER. So very quickly then, what you’re saying then is that 

these two systems will interact. Because you just said in the end, 

you need the ones and the zeros, the binary code. 

Dr. KUROSE. That’s right. So traditional computing will play a 

very important role in terms of the programming and the control 

of the quantum computing. I’d mentioned earlier the fact that you 

can now program quantum computers using the digital programming to sort of wrap around the quantum. 

Mr. WEBER. So we’re going to hear about that in the next panel. 

Dr. KUROSE. I think you’ll hear about that in the next panel. 

Mr. WEBER. Dr. Binkley, for you, we spent a lot of time on this 

Committee discussing high-performance computing, particularly 
74 

DOE’s goal to create an exascale computing system by 2021. How 

does the push to study quantum information systems fit in with 

that goal? 

Dr. BINKLEY. At the Department of Energy, we see quantum 

computing as something that follows the efforts that we’re doing in 

exascale computing. There are classes of physical problems that are 

characterized by the Schrodinger equation, which is the basis of all 

quantum mechanics. For example, most of the materials in chemical sciences fall into that category. Today we do calculations of an 

approximate nature on digital computers for the purpose of furthering our knowledge in those areas. Quantum computers will enable us to do much, much better calculations, exact calculations, as 

it were, when they finally become available. However, there will 

still remain applications in high-performance computing that are 

not quantum in nature. 

Mr. WEBER. Back to the ones and zeros you talked about. 

Dr. BINKLEY. Exactly, the ones and zeros, and those calculations, 

for example, structural calculations of materials looking at doing 

engineering types of calculations, looking at nuclear fission reactors, looking at heat flow and things like that, will still remain inherently digital. And so there will be a continuing need for simulations of that class. 

Mr. WEBER. So you foresee a parallel path, quite frankly? 

Dr. BINKLEY. Yes, sir. We see the two different technologies as 

being very complementary in the future. 

Mr. WEBER. Madam Chair, can I indulge for about another two 

or three hours? This stuff is fascinating. 

I yield back. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. And I now recognize Mr. Veasey for five 

minutes. 

Mr. VEASEY. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

I wanted to just kind of piggyback a little bit on Mr. Lipinski’s 

questions earlier revolving around international competition. We 

know that obviously whatever country is able to capitalize on this, 

the gains are going to be huge, and I wanted you to expand a little 

bit more about the cuts. As it was mentioned earlier I believe in 

my comments that the Trump Administration’s budget proposal 

cuts include 11 percent to NSF, about a 6.6 percent cut to quantum 

information science at NIST, and a 16 percent cut at DOE, and I 

wanted to know if all of you could expand more on the impact of 

the cuts, because I think that that is important, particularly again 

as it relates to competition. 

Dr. WILLIAMS. So at NIST, we always maximize resources that 

are provided to us by the Committee, and when we go in to optimize our portfolio, we always work to ensure that whatever decisions that are made by Congress and the Executive Branch that we 

implement them in a manner that provides the best return to the 

nation. 

Dr. KUROSE. So I’d like to simply say that among the agencies 

that you see here, and other agencies that we have been investing 

in QIS. We’ve provided the scientific foundation that we see today. 

I think again, because we’re seeing an inflection point, now is the 

time, a very opportune time, to accelerate those investments and 

to accelerate our progress forwards. And you know, I will mention 
75 

that funding, academic funding in computer science and physics 

and engineering, is very competitive and we go through a merit review process. If you look at the outcomes of the merit review process we leave lots of good ideas, really great ideas, on the cuttingroom floor because we have a budget, we work within those budget 

constraints, and we maximize the investments that we can make, 

but there are lots of good ideas that we’re not able to fund and that 

go through the merit review process with very high scores. 

And so again, I think especially in an area like QIS where we’re 

at a change point that additional investments simply allow accelerating progress in a very important area. 

Dr. BINKLEY. At the Department of Energy in our fiscal year 

2018 budget, we obviously had some very difficult decisions to 

make, and even in light of the significant reductions that were, you 

know, put forward by the Administration, we did manage to increase funding for QIS. Our budget request contained essentially a 

$40 million increase in QIS-related funding, and that came about 

through a long process of planning and thoughtful attention looking at the opportunities in the area, and also what we perceive to 

be the strategic importance of the area. 

Now, obviously, you know, that impacted other activities in the 

Office of Science portfolio but nevertheless, the judgment of our 

senior leadership team was that this is an area that, as Dr. Kurose 

has mentioned, has reached an inflection point and it’s timely to 

really increase investments in this area. 

Mr. VEASEY. Dr. Kurose, you talked a little bit about the importance of accelerating the funding. As it relates to competition with 

other countries, how important is accelerating the funds, accelerating the resources that we need in order to keep that competitive edge here in the United States? 

Dr. KUROSE. Well, I think it’s important to be accelerating both 

in the basic science, which I think Dr. Binkley mentioned, and also 

in the technology. Several members have mentioned China’s advances in the quantum satellite communication. In a sense, that 

was something that folks foresaw as happening. Scott Aaronson, 

who’s a physicist at the University of Texas in Austin, and worksin 

quantum said this was not unexpected but the real significance of 

this news, he says, is not that it was unexpected or that it overturns anything previously believed but that simply it’s the satisfying culmination of years of hard work. So we need to push forward on the basic science frontiers but there’s also now pushing 

forward on the technology and the implementation sides as well. 

Mr. VEASEY. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I yield back 

the balance of my time. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you. 

And I now recognize Mr. Webster for five minutes. 

Mr. WEBSTER. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Dr. Williams, there’s a lot of talk about how much money we’re 

going to have and what we need it for and so forth. Would you say 

that even if we were able to maintain or even accelerate the funding, if there was something else that came in and siphoned away 

some of that money, would that be detrimental to the study of 

quantum and our success in that? Would you see that being detrimental, anything that would siphon away money? 
76 

Dr. WILLIAMS. I think as one moves—again, there’s a lot of basic 

research but as one moves to transitioning this technology into our 

broader base, whether for national security or for economic security, that if we do not exploit the seed corn that we have created, 

that other nations will exploit it for us and they will end up reaping the economic benefit of it. So I think that the United States 

somehow has to figure out how we end up owning this technology 

the same way that we own the technology for the transistor and 

all the benefits that came from that. 

I and Dr. Binkley were at the EU kickoff, and one of the small 

European companies basically pointed out the transitor was also 

found there in Europe and they thought it was a toy. We exploited 

it, and we reaped the benefits of that. So I think we’re going to 

have to reap the benefits of the corn that we have sowed. 

Mr. WEBSTER. And it would be more than economic. You mentioned economic benefits. I mean, there are more benefits than just 

that, isn’t there? 

Dr. WILLIAMS. Yes, absolutely. The national security implications 

because again, sensors are used in our military. They’re not only 

used in the military but they’re used for mining and other things. 

So I mean, there are broad economic and national security implications to QIS technology. 

Mr. WEBSTER. Dr. Kurose, do you have anything to add to that? 

Dr. KUROSE. Well, I was just standing—sitting here shaking my 

head yes, yes, yes. So I agree with what Dr. Williams said. 

With respect to national security, Chairwoman Comstock mentioned in her opening remarks the importance of quantum—in 

terms of quantum encryption and postquantum encryption and the 

powerful nature of quantum computing. It’s one area where quantum computing, is not a panacea for all kinds of computing but one 

area where it’s going to be very, very important is in cryptography. 

It’s one of the things that can be done really well there, and that 

has tremendous ramifications for national security and also for economic competitiveness. 

Mr. WEBSTER. Dr. Binkley? 

Dr. BINKLEY. Following up on the theme introduced by Dr. Williams, if you look around, digital electronics pervades everything 

that we do today, and the quantum technologies that are coming 

about through research in QIS are likely to have a similar effect 

as we move into the future, and you know, we are in fact at an 

inflection point and the time really to invest is now. 

Mr. WEBSTER. Madam Chair, I would say that in this Committee 

we’ve had people come and testify about taking away some of the 

money and adding it in to another program, but I would say that 

the testimony here would be a direct assault on that in that having 

money diverted into some other program by us would be detrimental to our advancement. I mean, there is an imperative. We’re 

not in sort of just a walk. We’re in a run, a race. We’re trying to 

be number one. And so I know a lot of people have bought into the 

fact that STEAM should replace STEM, and all I can tell you is 

that to me says some of the money gets diverted, and I think that 

would be a bad thing. There’s nothing wrong with the arts and 

other things, I think those are great, but we’re in a race, and if 

we’re going to win this particular race, this race that we’re in now, 
77 

we’re going to have to take all of our resources for that particular 

race and put them there. So long live STEAM, I’m glad for it, but 

on the other hand, if we want to win this race, we’re going to have 

to focus on STEM. I yield back. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you, and I now recognize Ms. 

Bonamici for five minutes. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Before I begin, I want to recognize a member of the audience, 

Physics Professor Michael Raymer, a University of Oregon professor, Dr. Raymer received tenure on the faculty at the Institute 

of Optics at the University of Rochester and he moved to the University of Oregon, my alma mater, in 1988 and served as the 

Founding Director of the Oregon Center for Optics, now the Center 

for Optical Molecular and Quantum Science. Dr. Raymer, thank 

you for joining us today. 

I want to start by joining the comments that many have made 

about the concerns about budget cuts. I also wanted to thank Chair 

Comstock for mentioning the importance of leadership, and we’re 

all talking about the 2016 report that was done of course with the 

leadership of Dr. Holdren and others in the White House Office of 

Science and Technology. OSTP has now been vacant at the top position for the longest time since it was established in 1976 with a 

fraction of its staff that was there at the time of the 2016 report. 

So I want to point that out, that that’s critical to have that leadership and that position. 

I also want to respond to my colleague’s comments about 

STEAM. As the founder and co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional STEAM Caucus, I don’t want to use too much of my time 

but just to emphasize that STEAM does not divert funding. It enhances STEM education by making sure that there’s creativity and 

innovation in the educational process, and just as a point, the 

Nobel laureates in sciences are much more likely to be engaged in 

arts and crafts in their spare time. STEAM enhances STEM learning. It does not take away from the funding. What’s taking away 

from the funding is the budget cuts that are proposed by the Administration. 

I also wanted to follow up on the point that Chair Comstock 

made about education and workforce and the gaps in that, and I 

know the panel has addressed that, but it was an important topic 

in the 2016 report. One of the things that as a member of the Education Committee, I want to emphasize is the importance of college 

affordability and accessibility because a lot of the workforce that 

we could rely on to solve some of these problems and to be leaders 

in this area are finding challenges with not only college affordability but many of them may be DC. recipients, so immigration reform and college affordability are also important to solving these 

issues because we know that there are gaps. 

So I’m going to ask all the panelists how should quantum computing change the way we think about and plan for cybersecurity? 

It’s something that we talk about a lot here in this Committee and 

in Congress. Will we have—right now we have quantum encryption 

in place for existing communications and financial networks before 

quantum computers upend our current system of public key 

encryption? In other words, do you expect that quantum computers 
78 

will create hack-proof replacements? Can you address that? And I’ll 

ask each of the panelists, and then I do have another question as 

well. 

Dr. WILLIAMS. So at NIST, we’ve already embarked on the path 

of trying to find algorithms that we can replace our current public 

key infrastructure with that will be quantum resistant. This is 

being taken seriously because we know that it is essential to have 

it, so we believe that it will happen. 

With regard to the broader cyber theme, there are other ways 

that this technology helps. Again, very good clock and good timing 

can actually increase the robustness of our networks, like with almost all kind of technologies that are both quantum takes and it 

gives, and it’s about learning to understand how we can use the 

technology to make our systems more robust as well as providing 

quantum-resistant algorithms to replace current public key infrastructure. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Thank you. 

Dr. Kurose or Dr. Binkley, do you want to add to that on the cybersecurity issue? 

Dr. KUROSE. I would just say that the challenge of postquantum 

encryption is a very active research area now, and there are a lot 

of space methods that some of the community are coalescing 

around, but I think you ask, is there a guarantee right now that 

they’re going to be resistant? I don’t think the answer to that is actually known yet, and that’s a very active research area. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Dr. Binkley? 

Dr. BINKLEY. At the Department of Energy, we’re not involved in 

any cryptologic or cryptanalysis type of research so it’s not really 

our lane. But we are very interested in what’s going to happen 

with quantum networking. There are definite possibilities in the future where quantum networking will have impacts on science-type 

activities. We do operate the largest high-capacity network for 

science in the nation today, and we are very interested in how that 

will evolve in the future in light of quantum technologies. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Thank you. And briefly, many of you mentioned 

the importance of the private investment in research, and Dr. Williams, you even said we’re increasingly dependent on significant investments from U.S. technology giants and major defense companies, but do you all agree that robust federal investment in fundamental and basic research is critical to the development in the private sector as well?? 

Dr. WILLIAMS. Yes. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Dr. Kurose? 

Dr. KUROSE. I think yes, and I think also if you were to go to 

those technology giants and say is that important, they would also 

all say yes. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Do you agree, Dr. Binkley? 

Dr. BINKLEY. Yes, and I think also active partnerships between 

government research organizations like NSF, NIST and DOE with 

their counterpart—counterparts in the commercial sector are really 

important. That’s actually proven very successful in the exascale 

program over the last seven years. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Thank you, Madam Chair. I yield back. 
79 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you, and I now recognize Mr. 

Hultgren for five minutes. 

Mr. HULTGREN. Thank you, Chairwoman. Thank you all for being 

here. I appreciate your work, and appreciate you spending time 

with us today. 

Dr. Binkley, I wonder if I could address my first question to you. 

I wonder if you could talk briefly about the work across the Department that’s being done in quantum space, not just in ASCR. I know 

Fermilab, which is in my area, is involved in things like the Chicago Quantum Exchange as well as IMQ Net with AT&T, Cal Tech 

and the exchange to establish the first nodes of a quantum internet. Can you talk about the impact this work will have throughout 

our scientific ecosystem and how are the different programs like 

HEP and the Office of Science working to make sure that this happens? 

Dr. BINKLEY. So we’re viewing quantum in the broad sense within the Office of Science. We do think of it as quantum information 

science, which does contain some aspects—which does contain 

quantum computing. So I’m not going to spend a lot of time dwelling on the ACSR aspects of it, but we do see very, very strong programs already in existence and that need to evolve into stronger 

programs in the basic energy sciences area that are aimed at quantum materials that could be used in fabricating new types of 

qubits, for example. We also see the potential for quantum-based 

technologies for sensors and detectors that could be used in highenergy-physics experiments. It’s possible to use concepts like quantum squeezing to improve the sensitivity of certain types of detectors. All of these are very active areas of research right now within 

the entire breadth of Office of Science programs. 

Quantum networking, which I mentioned a moment ago, is something also that I think deserves attention. In summary, within the 

Office of Science we see opportunities across at least five of our six 

programs for quantum science and quantum technologies to make 

impacts on the physical sciences. Again, our emphasis is really on 

the physical sciences here. 

Mr. HULTGREN. Thanks. 

Dr. Kurose, I wonder if I could address to you, I understand that 

for QIS, the system of algorithms and standards would need to be 

rebuilt from scratch. I wonder if you could give us an idea of how 

large an undertaking this is. Is it fair to say this area of research 

cannot be helped along by classical computing methods or do investments in exascale computing support quantum computing in 

any way? 

Dr. KUROSE. Well, first let me address the question specifically 

with respect to cybersecurity because there the real challenge is 

that quantum computers will be able to do the kind of factoring of 

large numbers into prime numbers which are sort of at the key of 

the RSA encryption algorithms that Member Lipinski was talking 

about in his remarks. So from a security standpoint, it’s the capabilities of a quantum computer to do something that a digital computer cannot do in any reasonable amount of time, which is the 

real challenge there, and that’s why new cryptographic algorithms, 

the postquantum algorithms that are resistant to having quantum 

computing, that’s why there’s so much focus on that right now. 
80 

With respect to exascale, one thing maybe I’d like to emphasize 

is that quantum again won’t be a panacea, won’t solve all problems 

in computation, and as Dr. Binkley has pointed out, there are problems that are not well suited to quantum solutions and there we’re 

going to need supercomputers, we’re going to need exascale for the 

kinds of national competitiveness and to push forward science and 

engineering research. So it’s not an either/or, but an and; and both 

absolutely need to progress. 

Mr. HULTGREN. Great. Thank you. I wonder in my last minute 

here, Dr. Binkley and Dr. Kurose, what will DOE and NSF need 

to do to prepare the next generation of researchers and programmers to be able to work with quantum machines? Our coding now, 

as I understand it, is still based on the original linear models from 

which we started out with punch cards. How long will it take to 

maximize the effectiveness of these machines and make sure that 

people are ready to maximize? 

Dr. BINKLEY. So I think the way to start that process is to begin 

to develop and deploy testbed computers, which is one of the things 

that we and NSF have talked about doing. It’s become clear in our 

advisory panels and other advice bodies that we use that getting 

to where researchers have hands-on access to actual workable systems, even if they’re very small, is what’s necessary to allow people 

to begin to formulate ideas that then can lead to algorithms and 

computational methods. 

If you look back at the history of computing, when digital computers first came out in the late 1940s, early 1950s, they were very, 

very limited in capability, especially compared to today’s computers, and yet having them in the hands of the research community is one of the key factors in accelerating the adaptation of that 

technology and the development of algorithms and methods. 

Mr. HULTGREN. My time’s expired. We may follow up, if that’s all 

right, in writing, if that’s okay? I yield back. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. I now recognize Mr. McNerney for five 

minutes. 

Mr. MCNERNEY. Well, I thank the Chair and I thank the witnesses this morning. 

It sounds to me like QIS is a fairly broad subject, and quantum 

computing is one small part of that. Now, one of the things about 

some of these physics challenges is that there’s areas that seem 

like they’re going to be solved in 15 years and it’s always going to 

be 15 years. Is quantum computing one of those areas that we’re 

going to be struggling with 15 years from now with the same sort 

of vast misunderstanding or not understanding that we do today? 

Dr. Kurose? 

Dr. KUROSE. Well, if you’d asked me that question five years or 

ago or maybe even three years ago, I might have said yeah, that 

could be the case, but I think now that you see smaller-scale quantum computing being available, In the next panel you’ll have Chris 

Monroe. Who has a computer—a quantum computing device at the 

University of Maryland. You’ll have IBM, who’s put their quantum 

computing device online. It’s becoming real. It’s not becoming real 

yet at the scale of the number of qubits and the size of the computation that could pose a threat to cracking RSA, for example, but 

we’ve made a real quantum leap, if you will, from five years ago, 
81 

to today, to actually having these devices and making these devices 

available to folks. 

Mr. MCNERNEY. So we’re going to be seeing application of QIS 

all over the place, it sounds like. What are some of the inherent 

scientific and technical challenges that we’re going to be seeing or 

that we’re going to have to overcome. Dr. Williams? 

Dr. WILLIAMS. So I think there are a number of challenges. I 

mean, again, it’s speaking back toward NIST mission. Small processors can allow us to build several kinds of devices that would— 

including extremely low-noise amplifiers and other things that 

could provide signal in places where you can get no signal because 

we know how we can play around in the amplification world in the 

quantum level to do things you cannot do classically. So I think 

this technology is going to really remake a lot of our modern electronics type thing so when you think about computers, I mean, 

computers are not just sitting on your laptop. They’re in every 

game, in every toy and almost everything that’s in your house. The 

technological challenges of isolating them are hard and yet we 

know with Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamonds, for example, that 

we can maintain coherence in a quantum system at room temperature. We are learning tremendous amounts of new things about 

where this technology is going, and I think this is one of those 

areas where the future, probably the most important discoveries, 

the most important things that will come out of this QIS revolution 

are yet unknown. 

Mr. MCNERNEY. Well, one of the things that we should be worried about is the implications on national security and national 

economy. So are we making the kind of investments that are necessary to keep control of those two issues as opposed to all of a sudden finding ourselves behind the eight ball? 

Dr. WILLIAMS. I believe that we are at that inflection point where 

it is essential that we figure out how we convert this basic science 

into the technology because it’s the technology that basically produces the broad economy that we tax and pays for science. So we 

need to ensure that we own the space, and in a ‘‘flat world,’’ this 

is a far more difficult game than it was at the end of World War 

II where we won the advantages of the transistor and so now we 

must compete globally with other nations to exploit the science and 

turn it into technology. 

Mr. MCNERNEY. Is it going to be more of a cooperative international effort or a competitive international effort, Dr. Binkley? 

Dr. BINKLEY. I think it’s actually going to be a combination of 

both. I mean, there are certain areas where the relationship between our researchers and their counterparts in foreign countries 

is very collegial and very collaborative but there are also areas 

where it’s very competitive, and in the areas related to quantum 

science and technology, I think we’re going to see a more competitive nature when it comes to international dealings because of the 

economic forces that will come to bear through the technologies 

that are ultimately developed. 

That said, I think there still be impacts in areas like high-energy 

physics and nuclear physics where quantum detector technologies 

will accelerate the pace of science and there it’ll be more collegial 

and collaborative. 
82 

Mr. MCNERNEY. Thank you. I yield back. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. I now recognize Mr. Rohrabacher for 

five minutes. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Madam Chairman, thank you very much for 

your leadership in calling this hearing today and organizing it. We 

appreciate that. 

Let me just note that when I got here years ago, 30 years ago 

now, there was a big debate as to whether or not we should put 

$600 million into the development of picture tubes, and we were 

falling behind. Come to find out, of course, of that $600 million, a 

significant portion of that would be used in developing analog picture tubes at a time when digital technology was sweeping into 

that industry. So not all the times when you spend money and 

you’re saying it’s for a specific end are you achieving the goal that 

you want to achieve. In fact, sometimes cuts force people to make 

priority decisions, for example, not putting money into analog old 

technology rather than into digital technology. And if you never 

terminate the least effective research that you’re doing, you will 

drag down the most productive research that you’re doing. So the 

fact that there have been responsible cuts to various programs is 

something that will actually, I think, make our scientific community more effective rather than less effective. 

And when it comes down to this issue, let me just note this has 

been a terrific hearing. I want to thank the witnesses. I have a better understanding now of the challenge that we face. It sounds like 

to me, and let me get the pronunciation of Jim Kurose? 

Dr. KUROSE. Kurose. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Kurose. You noted that we were actually 

ahead in the basic science and we are ahead in that but what it 

sounds like to me, Madam Chairman, is that we are not really 

making the transition from the basic science into applied science 

in a way that America will remain a leader in this effort. Is there 

something that we can do? Now, applied science is just another 

word, I guess, for applied for defense, et cetera, but also commercialization is part of what we talk about in terms of applied 

science. When we didn’t have the money for NASA to spend all the 

money we needed for various space transportation systems, we 

turned to the private sector and now we have—with the commercial legislation that we passed, we have a very vibrant and important investment in space transportation coming out of our private 

sector. 

Now, is there something that we can do? I mean, okay, I’m the 

author of the Commercial Space Act so I’m bragging about that, 

but is there something we can do to make the applied go from the 

basic to the applied and incentivize the private sector to invest 

money in the applied scientific approach to this issue, Dr. Kurose? 

Dr. KUROSE. Well, thank you for the question, and in my earlier 

remarks I actually talked about partnerships between industry and 

the National Science Foundation and the research community, and 

so really what you’re talking about is use-inspired research, and I 

think one of the advantages of having that collaboration between 

industry, academia and the federal government is that we are able 

to bring in use-inspired research challenges into the research. 
83 

That’s not a replacement for fundamental research but it is important. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Well, it’s utilizing fundamental research. 

Dr. KUROSE. It’s utilizing fundamental research. Actually, new 

research problems can be suggested by the use and by the development. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Well, I would hope that we can come up with 

some specific ideas how to encourage these private sector companies, which will utilize the information to actually invest in that 

transition between basic and utilization. 

Do any other witnesses have any thoughts on that? 

Dr. WILLIAMS. So I agree with Dr. Kurose. Partnerships are important. Other things that can help are things like other transaction authority that would allow us to better interact between academia, industry and the private sector and the government because 

there are a lot of restrictions around the IP that creates problems, 

and OTA will give us some flexibility there. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. How about the DOE? Does it have some 

ideas on that? 

Dr. BINKLEY. Well, I come back to the general concept that Dr. 

Kurose mentioned and also Dr. Williams in that effective partnerships between government research organizations and private companies are a very good way to go. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Well, we’ve got to make it profitable for people to do that. 

Dr. BINKLEY. Correct. But that has succeeded in several areas in 

Office of Science programs, and it serves to bring together researchers from essentially the commercial environment and the 

government-funded side, and often it’s beneficial enough to the 

company that they put their own resources into that as well. So I 

think that’s one of the most effective ways of accelerating the transition of basic science into commercial applications. 

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Thank you very much, and thank you, 

Madam Chairman. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. I now recognize Mr. Tonko for five minutes. 

Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to all our witnesses. 

Quantum technology is an exciting frontier, and I’m proud of the 

advances happening in my home State of New York and at universities in my region throughout the capital district. I continue to 

hear from universities that want to partner with other universities 

and industry and federal endeavors in quantum technology. I hope 

that we continue to look toward the future and foster opportunities 

for universities and industry to grow this critical field. It obviously 

begins with basic research and so I am concerned that the 2018 

budget proposed by President Trump includes an 11 percent cut, as 

we heard earlier, to NSF, a 6.6 percent cut to quantum information 

science at NIST, and a 16 percent cut to DOE’s Basic Energy 

Sciences program where Dr. Binkley just testified much of their 

quantum research is supported. So it’s got to set a tone. I believe 

government sets a tone and provides for basic research and then 

hopefully move forward, and in light of the international scale and 
84 

what is happening, it’s very problematic to see these proposals 

coming from our President. 

The National Science and Technology Council Interagency Working Group on Quantum Information Science has done crucial initial 

work to scope and prioritize the research in various efforts. Can 

any of you provide an update on the Interagency Working Group? 

Dr. WILLIAMS. The Interagency Working Group’s charter has 

been extended and continues to meet. In fact, I believe we have a 

meeting on Thursday this week. That group is trying to come up 

with a playbook of possible paths forward given different scenarios. 

I think we see ourselves as very collaborative across the whole of 

government. We’ve been working close together for years. We all 

see that this is vital to our mission space. This includes not only 

the agencies sitting at the table but many of the agencies that are 

part of the DOD and the intelligence community as well. 

Mr. TONKO. Thank you. All three of your agencies fund research 

into quantum materials as a fundamental underpinning for a quantum technology revolution. Can you describe in lay terms what 

quantum materials are and the different aspects of quantum materials research that each of your agencies is supporting? Dr. Williams? 

Dr. WILLIAMS. So quantum materials are materials that have 

specific properties. In some cases, because they are 1 or 2D materials and the various special kinds of films, and in some cases it’s 

because they have specific properties. So some of these are superconducting materials. Some of them are ultrapure silicon so that 

we can get rid of the nuclear spins that come, isotopically pure silicon so silicon has three isotopes, and those nuclear spins cause 

problems in quantum computing. So we basically invest in a broad 

range of different materials that are necessary to support this technology, to create sensors and single proton detectors that have both 

the properties that they can sense a single photon, reset themselves, and have very high quantum efficiency, which means again 

putting different types of materials stacked on top of them. So 

there’s a lot of different types of processing going on to do these 

things so it’s a very broad field. 

Mr. TONKO. Thank you. 

Dr. Kurose? 

Dr. KUROSE. I would just add that at the National Science Foundation, we don’t fund any intramural research; we fund academic 

research across the United States in many different areas, so 94 

percent of the funding that comes to the National Science Foundation goes out to researchers in academia. How funding is allocated 

to make the hard decisions that Member Rohrabacher mentioned, 

that’s done through merit review, so the scientists come in and provide advice to the National Science Foundation about what the 

most promising research activities are among the—— 

Mr. TONKO. So it seems like a very critical area of federal investment. 

And Dr. Binkley, please? 

Dr. BINKLEY. So following Dr. Kurose’s remarks, the Department 

of Energy research activities are funded in both universities and in 

DOE National Laboratories and again through a very rigorous peer 

review process. In our materials area, we’re really focused on what 
85 

we call functional materials, materials that are essentially designed to achieve certain functions using quantum mechanical principles to begin with. We also focus our research heavily in the characterization of materials. We have tools and diagnostic methods for 

accurately characterizing materials. Dr. Williams mentioned pure 

isotopes of certain materials. The DOE research is also focused on 

methods for production of certain isotopes. In all cases, we coordinate our research activities in quantum materials across our respective organizations to avoid any duplication of effort. 

Mr. TONKO. Thank you. I thank all three of our witnesses, and 

with that, Madam Chair, I yield back. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Okay. I now recognize Mr. Foster for 

five minutes. 

Mr. FOSTER. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to our 

witnesses. 

You know, I have to say I’m not surprised at the incredible computing power that’s available in the physical universe. I remember, 

you know, back learning quantum field theory at Harvard more 

than 30 years old. They told us well, at every point in space time 

there was infinite—an operator, an infinite dimension matrix, and 

these were propagated through time with a set of equations that 

are called the standard model. And just when you think about the 

incredible computing power that happens in the universe, you 

know, it’s not surprising that there’s power out there. 

What I am blown away with is the fact that over the last 30 

years, we have found ways to tap into that computing power, and 

that these—you know, it’s just really impressive. 

I was also very interested in the claim that you can actually preserve quantum coherence at room temperature, which is something 

I want to follow up with because that means that there may be a 

possibility of actually having quantum computers in your cell 

phone whereas previously, you know, the scenario that people were 

looking at were giant supercomputer front ends to small boxes with 

cryogenics in it to provide cloud-based access so we may actually— 

if that is actually true, that could change, you know, the way we 

actually deploy this. 

Now, one of the bright spots of bipartisan agreement in this—on 

this Committee and in Congress is about robust funding for 

exascale computing, and so Dr. Binkley, could you discuss how the 

next generation of exascale computing systems such as the one at 

Argonne National Laboratory is working to bring online in 2021 

could synergize and elevate a robust quantum computing technology ecosystem? 

Dr. BINKLEY. Yeah, I can cite a couple of examples of where that 

occurs. One is that obviously there’s a tremendous search on for 

quantum materials that can be used in cubit technologies and so 

a lot of the simulation capabilities that exist in our material 

science and chemical sciences communities can be brought to bear 

on that problem. 

Another area that is under active exploration is that you can 

simulate quantum computers on classical computers, and in fact, 

with the largest computers we have today, we can simulate quantum computers that contain up to about 40 or so aubits, and that 

actually gives us a way to begin to simulate algorithms and do al-
86 

gorithm development, and that will be accelerated when we go to 

the exascale-class computing. 

Also, the exascale computing is giving us the ability to look deeper into particle physics and nuclear physics phenomena, and that’ll 

give us insights on quantum algorithms that can be developed in 

those areas as well. 

Mr. FOSTER. Thank you. And I guess on the next panel of witnesses we’re going to see some discussion of what the key skills 

that you need to get the workforce that can actually do this, and 

I guess the list that appeared in the written testimony were cryogenics, FPGA programming, superconducting materials development, and microwave engineering. You know, that sounds pretty 

much like a description of what I did during my 25 years at Fermi 

National Accelerator Lab. I think somewhere on my laptop back 

home are hundreds of pages of FPGA code, cryogenic systems calculations, you know, designs of high-power phase shifters for microwave applications and so on. 

And so it strikes me that the national labs are really well positioned to play a key role here, and so I guess the question for Dr. 

Binkley, how exactly is the Department of Energy using the capabilities of Argonne Lab and Fermilab to advance quantum science 

to hopefully stay ahead of the competition here? 

Dr. BINKLEY. So that’s a very good question, and so presently, 

we’re really at the very beginning of that process, and as I mentioned a little bit earlier, the first step is to develop and deploy a 

few testbed computer systems at various of our national laboratories so that researchers can begin to do systematic development 

of algorithms and computational approaches to problems. And then, 

you know, later on, depending on where the field of quantum computing goes, there may be opportunities where DOE technologies 

can be applied in that path as well. But right now our focus is really on the very, very early stage development of quantum computing 

algorithms using testbeds and also looking at quantum simulation 

as a technique for looking at molecular problems. 

Mr. FOSTER. Thank you. And I guess my last question is for Dr. 

Kurose and Dr. Williams. There’s been two big areas, it seems to 

me, one of which is the whole encryption, you know, and communication. The other one is just using this as a compute engine for 

things like, protean folding and all these really intractable problems that we’re facing, so how do you see—-in one of these areas, 

it’s probably okay to have open communications with the entire 

world. The other one just for national defense reasons has to be 

very closely held. And so how do you handle the communications 

between, you know, the dark side that has to remain dark and you 

know, the purely scientific side that maybe shouldn’t? 

Dr. KUROSE. It’s a great question, and I’d say that the National 

Science Foundation funds open basic fundamental scientific research, and so, if you were to look at prequantum encryption algorithms, there’s NSF funding involved in that. Other agencies are 

involved when you talk about the classified space and there are 

other opportunities there, but at the National Science Foundation, 

the work funded is open. 

Mr. FOSTER. Do you feel there’s adequate communication or is 

that just a problem you run into all the time? 
87 

Dr. KUROSE. Communication among—— 

Mr. FOSTER. Between, you know, for example, your scientists 

that work, you know, in the unclassified scientific area and have 

good visibility into the technologies that are being developed with 

the nontrivial amounts of money we’re putting into the classified 

sector, or is that a problem where you end up inventing, you know, 

the same device in two different spaces with a lot of inefficiency 

there. 

Dr. KUROSE. Golly. Given I don’t have a clearance, it’s a little bit 

hard for me to comment on both sides at the same time. Maybe I 

could just—if I could take 20 seconds just to tell you a story that 

during World War II, some of the fundamentals being RSA 

encryption were done in the dark at the same time in England, and 

it was really shocking to imagine that 2,000 years of how we were 

doing encryption was turned on its head by RSA and the algorithms there, and yet unbeknownst to the team here in the United 

States, there was another team in England doing the same thing, 

and so sometimes there are ideas that are in the area, really, really 

smart people put together these ideas and can come up with not 

exactly the same but some really similar super, super creative 

ideas. 

Mr. FOSTER. I guess I’ve exceeded my time. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you, and I now recognize Mr. 

Beyer for five minutes. 

Mr. BEYER. Thank you, Madam Chair, very much. Thank you all 

for being here today. It’s not every day you get the opportunity to 

make a Schrodinger’s cat joke, although it is at the same time, 

right? 

Anyway, I want to begin by pushing back a little back on my 

good friend Mr. Rohrabacher about agreeing that yes, it does make 

sense to abandon unproductive research efforts but then I deeply 

believe the money should be redirected to other more productive research efforts. At the end of the day, less research is still less research, and that’s not good for any of us. 

Dr. Binkley, you’re Department of Energy. I’ve been impressed 

today how in all the talk about QIS, there’s been so little discussion 

about its impact on energy, and I bring that up because it seems 

to be half of what we talk about on Capitol Hill, you know, fossil 

fuels, climate change, a lot of nuclear physics here. You did mention photosynthesis and the impact there, and sort of a passing reference to being able to explore gas and oil better with quantum 

technology, but can you look at—can you talk a little bit about the 

larger energy picture and what quantum physics may bring us? 

Dr. BINKLEY. Yes. Let’s see. To begin with, there are many, many 

processes for producing energy from various types of fuels. A lot of 

those processes depend on chemical reactions, and in the case of 

chemical reactions, quantum computing will enable much speedier, 

much more accurate calculations and simulations to be done, which 

will have impacts on those systems. If you consider also the effective utilization of biofuels, a lot of the problems that we face in understanding biofuels and bioproducts or biomanufacturing, for that 

matter, ultimately become problems in chemical reactions trying to 

determine activation energies and things like that. Being able to do 

more accurate, more thorough calculations using quantum com-
88 

puting-based techniques will also accelerate those processes as 

well. Essentially, any problem that is either materials or chemical 

sciences is going to become much more tractable with quantum 

computing at it becomes available in whatever time frame. I would 

expect that to have direct impacts on the energy—— 

Mr. BEYER. It sounds like we need to take the all-of-the-above 

philosophy and add quantum physics to that. 

Dr. Williams, you talked about quantum teleportation and entanglement, the whole idea of action at distance which you know Einstein hated, and you talked about the Chinese have now done it 

over 1,200 kilometers. We also—our Committee is Science, Space, 

and Technology. Do you see this —so we’re now violating the sort 

of absolute speed of light is the limit with entanglement. Are there 

ways for us to explore deep space to break the barriers using quantum teleportation? 

Dr. WILLIAMS. So break barriers in some ways but not in ones 

that violate any of the laws of physics. Again, on the quantum 

teleportation, in order to actually extract the information, you have 

to also have a classical channel so you are causally limited in order 

to exploit it. However, again in deep space exploration, the use of 

entanglement and everything else can give us a couple of things— 

super dense coding—that is ways of packing more information into 

a small number of bits. Again, these amplifiers I’ve talked about, 

they can come back in because again, that spacecraft is now so far 

away that its signal takes a long time but its signal also goes out 

in a very large area so only a small piece of the signal comes back 

to Earth. Can I build an amplifier that allows me to pick up that 

extraordinarily weak signal, and this technology allows that. So 

there’s numerous reasons that to agencies like NASA and deep 

space exploration that this technology will be crucial to helping us 

further explore and understand the basic principles of the universe. 

Mr. BEYER. Thank you very much. 

Dr. Binkley, very quickly, can you tell us what quantum gravity 

is? 

Dr. BINKLEY. Well, there’s ultimately the question of merging 

quantum theory with the general theory of relativity, and it’s 

thought that quantum gravity can be explained ultimately in those 

terms. How that’ll affect—I mean, that’s not really a quantum computing problem per se but it’s a QIS, a quantum information 

science problem. It’s a challenge in the area of quantum information science. It’s an unsolved problem at this point. 

Mr. BEYER. Okay. So it’s—great. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Chair—Madam Chair, I yield back. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. I thank the witnesses for their testimony and the members for their questions. You obviously have a 

lot of interested Members here today. We will now invite our second panel up to the table, and once we get everyone there, we can 

welcome and introduce our second panel of witnesses. 

Okay. Great. We’ll move forward here on our second panel. 

Thank you for your patience. Now, our fourth witness today is Dr. 

Scott Crowder, Chief Technical Officer and Vice President, Quantum Computing, Technical Strategy and Transformation for IBM 

Systems. In this role, his responsibilities include leading the commercialization effort for quantum computers and driving the stra-
89 

tegic direction across the hardware- and software-defined systems 

portfolio, among other things. 

He holds both a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of 

Ccience degree in international relations and electrical engineering 

from Brown University as well as a Master of Arts in economics 

from Stanford. He also holds a master of science and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford. 

Our fifth witness today is Dr. Chris Monroe, Distinguished University Professor and Bice Zorn Professor in the Department of 

Physics at the University of Maryland. He’s also founder and chief 

scientist at IonQ, Incorporated, and a Fellow of the Joint Quantum 

Institute between the University of Maryland, NIST, and the National Security Agency. Additionally, he’s a Fellow of the Center for 

Quantum Information and Computer Science at the University of 

Maryland, NIST, and NSA. 

He received his undergraduate degree from MIT and earned his 

Ph.D. in physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, studying with Carl Wieman and Eric Cornell. His work paved the way 

toward the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in 1995 and 

the Nobel Prize in Physics for Wieman and Cornell in 2001. 

He then was a staff physicist at NIST in the group of David 

Wineland, leading the team that demonstrated the first quantum 

logic gate in any physical system. Based on this work, Wineland 

was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2012. In 2000, Dr. Monroe became Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering at the 

University of Michigan, where he pioneered the use of single photons as a quantum conduit between isolated atoms and demonstrated the first atom trip integrated on a semiconductor chip. 

From 2006 to 2007, he was the Director of the National Science 

Foundation’s Ultrafast Optics Center at the University of Michigan. 

And now I will recognize Mr. Lipinski to introduce our third witness. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. Thank you. Our third witness is Dr. Supratik Guha 

who is the Director of the Nanosciences and Technology Division in 

Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory 

and a professor at the Institute for Molecular Engineering at the 

University of Chicago. 

Dr. Guha came to Argonne in 2015 after spending 20 years at 

IBM Research where he served as the Director of Physical 

Sciences. At IBM, Dr. Guha pioneered the research that led to 

IBM’s high dielectric constant metal gate transistor, one of the 

most significant developments in silicon microelectronics technology. He was also responsible for significantly expanding the size 

and strategic initiative of IBM’s quantum computing group. Dr. 

Guha is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a 

Fellow of the Materials Research Society in the American Physical 

Society. He’s one of only a few scientists who has been a tenured 

professor, an executive at a major multi-national company, and the 

division at a major national laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in 

material science in 1991 from the University of Southern California 

and B. Tech in 1985 from the Indian Institute of Technology. So 

welcome, Dr. Guha. 
90 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Okay. And I now recognize Dr. Crowder 

for five minutes to present his testimony. 

TESTIMONY OF DR. SCOTT CROWDER, 

VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER 

FOR QUANTUM COMPUTING, 

IBM SYSTEMS GROUP 

Dr. CROWDER. Chairwoman Comstock, Chairman Weber, distinguished Members of the Subcommittees, thank you for this opportunity to testify before you today. I am here representing IBM 

where I lead the company’s IBM Q program whose goal is to provide quantum computing access to industry and research institutions for business and science. 

We tend to think classical computers can solve any problem if 

they are just big or fast enough, but that is not the case. There are 

a whole class of exponential problems that classical computers are 

not good at and never really will be. One example is simulating the 

behavior of atoms and molecules. Unfortunately, for anything beyond very small molecules, this task lies far beyond the capacity 

of conventional computers. Accurately simulating relatively simple 

molecule like caffeine would require a classical computer 1/10th the 

size of planet Earth. With better simulation, we could do amazing 

things. We could develop new life-saving drugs or manufacture incredibly light and durable new materials for airplanes. 

When I talk to leading U.S. companies about their unsolved problems, the problems, that if solved, could bring them huge economic 

benefit and competitive advantage, these exponential problems 

turn up everywhere. They are problems such as developing new 

materials at a chemical company, understanding aging of batteries 

at an automotive company, optimizing the supply chain at a logistics company, and hedging risk and commodity prices at a consumer goods company. What they have in common is they are exponential problems that have real business value if solved. 

Quantum computing holds the promise to solve these types of 

real problems and bring real commercial value to U.S. industry. It 

is a radically different computing paradigm that could launch a 

new age of human discovery. IBM has built and made available via 

cloud access real quantum computers of 5 and 16 qubits for education and exploration. These IBM Q experience systems were the 

only freely available quantum computing resource until this month 

when a Chinese institution made a smaller, 4 qubit system available. 

IBM has also announced IBM Q, an initiative to build the first 

universal quantum computing systems commercially available to 

industry and research partners. Access to 17 qubit systems is 

planned for later this year with growth to 50 qubit systems in the 

not-too-distant future. These systems are located in New York and 

securely accessed by IBM Q partners via the cloud. 

When one examines the depth of the commitment other countries 

are making in quantum computing, our belief is the U.S. Government investment in driving this critical technology is not sufficient 

to stay competitive. 

The European Commission announced last year that it would 

create a 1 billion Euro research effort called the quantum tech-
91 

nology flagship. According to estimates by McKenzie, the European 

Union has twice the number of quantum researchers as the United 

States and dedicates 1–1/2 times the funding. China has also increased the national prioritization of quantum technology. That 

same McKenzie study showed China has more quantum researchers than the U.S. In China, government and industry are working 

cooperatively. The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Alibaba jointly 

established the Alibaba Quantum Computing Lab with clearly defined goals to build 50-qubit and larger systems. 

Given the growing competition, what can the U.S. do to maintain 

its quantum leadership? We believe success will require partnerships between industry, academia, and government to drive the 

basic research, create talent and skills required, and help U.S. industry explore how this new technology can be used for economic 

advantage. We support and commend the actions of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science to create quantum computing test beds. These efforts should be significantly expanded to 

ensure we are putting the most advanced quantum computers in 

the hands of U.S. research scientists and early industry adopters. 

This should include early stage commercial quantum computers 

from not just IBM but from other industry participants to ensure 

exploration of multiple underlying quantum technologies. 

In order to ensure continued American leadership in fundamental quantum technology, the U.S. Government should partner 

with academic institutions to increase funding for basic research in 

alternative quantum technologies and quantum algorithms. 

Finally, we must do more together to drive talent development 

in quantum computing in this country. Students in the U.S. from 

over 500 academic institutions are using the IBM Q experience and 

the related quantum software development kit for education and 

skill development. But the efforts of industry are not enough to develop the necessary skills in quantum information science. Government at the federal and state levels must work with industry and 

academia to create both regional centers of excellence for quantum 

computing and topical centers of excellence for quantum-based solutions in areas such as computational chemistry and optimization. 

You’re right to focus on U.S. quantum leadership given its critical importance to our national competitiveness and security. Working together, we can ensure that the U.S. continues to lead the way 

in quantum computing. 

Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on this very 

important topic. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Crowder follows:] 
92 

Testimony of Scott Crowder 

Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Quantum Computing, IBM 

Before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

Subcommittee on Research and Technology and Subcommittee on Energy 

Rayburn House Office Building - Room 2318 

Tuesday,October24,2017 

Introduction 

Chairwoman Comstock, Chairman Weber, members of the subcommittees. Thank you 

for inviting me here to testify this morning. My name is Scott Crowder and I am IBM's 

Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Quantum Computing. 

Quantum computing is not just another emerging technology. It is a radically different 

computing paradigm that could launch a new age of human discovery. The technology 

will one day help us to solve problems that are unsolvable today with classical computer 

systems. You are right to focus on U.S. quantum leadership given its critical importance 

to our national competitiveness and security. 

For the purposes of this hearing, I will focus on the commercial significance of quantum 

computing. IBM's position is that the commercial world should begin to experience 

significant benefits from approximate forms of quantum computing within a few years. 

In contrast, the much larger, fully fault-tolerant universal quantum computers which will 

be required for practical decryption are several decades in the future. 

In my testimony today, I will provide a brief overview of what differentiates quantum 

computers, the current state of the technology, our longer-term roadmap and how 

government can help advance quantum research. I'll also touch on the status of 

quantum research in other countries, and the critical need to develop human skills 

training in quantum computing here in the U.S. 

Why quantum computing is different 

Quantum theory changed the world in the early 201

h century by explaining the bizarre 

behavior of subatomic particles. After decades of research, much of it led by IBM, we 

can now exploit the laws of quantum mechanics in a way that gives us a potential 

"quantum advantage" in conducting certain calculations that conventional computers 

cannot manage alone. 

This development couldn't come at a more important time. For more than 50 years 

computing has been guided by Moore's Law: the observation that the number of 

transistors per square inch on integrated circuits will double every year. This 

fundamental insight made the technology revolution and everything that defined it 

possible, from home computers to supercomputers to smartphones. But as we 

approach the physical limits of silicon-based technology, we must look to new methods 

to expand computational power. Quantum computing is one of our best hopes. 
93 

Quantum computers follow a different set of rules from classical computers. Rather than 

bits, they use qubits, or quantum bits. These subatomic particles can exist in many 

different states at the same time. They enable probabilistic processing that 

exponentially exceeds the capabilities of a traditional computer. This opens the door to 

tackle problems that have long been considered out of bounds because of memory, 

processing, or time requirements. 

Take the challenge of chemistry. If we could truly simulate the behavior of atoms and 

molecules, their energies and interactions, we could do amazing things, like develop 

new, life-saving drugs in a fraction of the time it takes today. 

Unfortunately, this task lies far beyond the capacity of conventional computers. There's 

no realistic way we'll get there with a system based on current technology. In fact, 

simulating a relatively simple molecule like caffeine would require a classical computer 

roughly 1/10th the size of planet Earth. 

Using quantum chemistry, we could model and research new chemical compounds that 

lead to stronger, lighter, more efficient materials. These materials could be less 

expensive to manufacture for use in everything from clothing to airplanes. Airplane 

manufacturers could use these breakthroughs to design more durable, lighter airplanes 

that are even safer, while reducing fuel use and the costs to passengers. 

Another activity quantum computers will excel at is optimization: finding the best answer 

when there is a huge, exponential number of possibilities. For example, no classical 

computer today can optimize the routes, costs, and delivery schedules of 5,000 trucks 

while accounting for payload, gas mileage, time, weather, and traffic, all of which are 

changing in real time. With each new variable, the number of possible outcomes 

increases exponentially. However, quantum computers could potentially solve this 

problem in no time. 

Quantum-enhanced weather simulations could help us better predict and plan for 

extreme weather events, saving lives and offering a roadmap to better protect vital 

infrastructure. 

Food supply is another problem ripe for quantum solutions. Current synthetic fertilizers 

are less effective than natural fertilizers because we cannot yet model the complex 

combinations of their components. With enhanced fertilizers developed with quantum 

computing models, farmers could grow more food in less space to feed the world's 

growing population. In this way, we could better address food shortages and lower 

environmental impacts. 

The state of quantum technology today 

Quantum computers share another defining characteristic. They are extremely complex 

and challenging to build. Quantum mechanical states are exquisitely fragile and 

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delicate. Anything can interfere with the successful functioning of the chip such as heat, 

noise or electromagnetic waves. For that reason, we keep our chips inside a refrigerator 

that is colder than outer space. It requires intricate engineering to maintain the quantum 

state of 'coherence'- the lifetime of quantum information- and perform calculations, 

while sending signals in and out of the system to know what the calculations are. 

Existing quantum machines are still too small to fully solve problems more complex than 

supercomputers can handle. Nevertheless, we've made tremendous progress. The day 

when quantum computers exceed the capacity of classical machines is now in sight. Let 

me illustrate this with a few highlights of key developments at IBM. 

We've developed algorithms that will run faster on a quantum machine. We now have 

techniques that prolong coherence in superconducting quantum bits by a factor of over 

100 compared to 10 years ago. 

We achieved breakthroughs in methods to detect and measure the two types of errors 

that will occur in any real quantum computer, known as bit-flip and phase-flip. This was 

a necessary step toward quantum error correction, a critical requirement for building a 

practical and reliable large-scale quantum computer. 

IBM Research has already built and deployed functioning 5-qubit and 16-qubit universal 

quantum computers and made them available to the public over the cloud. This 

distinction of "universal" is important. It is the only class of quantum computer that has 

been proven theoretically to vastly accelerate the solution to certain problems. 

Thousands of academics and enthusiasts on all seven continents have used access to 

the IBM quantum cloud service more than a million and a half times to do research, 

publish papers, educate students, and perform new computations. 

Earlier this year, IBM launched the industry's first commercial program to provide 

access to universal quantum computers, called IBM Q. As part of that program, we will 

enable IBM clients to use a more powerful17-qubit processor through the cloud. They 

can take advantage of it to explore what they will eventually do with this technology. 

Within a few years, we expect to scale the system to 50 qubits. At that point, we believe 

quantum computers will begin to solve problems that no traditional computer could 

solve on its own. 

It's important to note that quantum computers will augment, not replace, classical 

computers. They will be used chiefly to handle specific types of problems, while 

classical computers will continue to advance for the tasks that they are good for. The 

most powerful systems of the next decade will be hybrids of quantum computers using 

classical computers to control logic and operations with large amounts of data. For 

example, quantum computing will improve artificial intelligence and machine learning by 

finding the best answers within a huge, exponential number of possibilities. 

I hope I've conveyed that quantum computing is real, and its impact on our world is 

imminent. We at IBM are building universal quantum computers today and people are 

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using them. Now is the time for the federal government to help expedite advancements 

in the technology to maximize its benefits for the country. Similar efforts are taking place 

elsewhere and it is imperative for the U.S. to keep up. 

The importance of skills development 

Training a new generation of people skilled in quantum computing is critical. That's why 

we launched the IBM Q experience interactive website in May 2016. 

To give you some idea of its impact, there are approximately 2,000 experts in quantum 

information science in the world. But more than 50,000 people have accessed the IBM 

Q experience, explored our tutorials, and run experiments on our real 5-qubit and 16-

qubit processors. Students in the U.S. from more than 500 academic institutions are 

using the IBM Q experience and the quantum software-development kit for education 

and skill development. This is but one example of how we can begin to grow the 

quantum ecosystem and the number of those who are familiar with this technology. 

As we have built our quantum computing effort, we have identified three areas where 

there are skill shortages that must be addressed. Those countries that create the most 

effective partnerships between industry, academia and government to develop these 

skills will have a significant competitive advantage. 

The first area is the development of quantum system hardware. The most critical skill 

areas we see in hardware development are cryogenics, FPGA programming, 

supercomputing materials development and microwave engineering. There is some 

opportunity for mid-career re-training of engineers and research scientists to meet the 

skill demands. However, targeted research in these fields at graduate degree programs 

and curriculum within technical undergraduate programs will be required to satisfy future 

demand. 

The second skill area is deep quantum information science expertise. This is necessary 

to drive both quantum computer and algorithm development. It requires a strong focus 

at the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as targeted post-doctoral research. 

Creation of quantum information science disciplines and funded research in that field is 

paramount to strengthening this critical skill. 

The third skill area is quantum application and solution developers. The IBM Q 

experience and our open source QISKit software-development kit help by providing 

useful educational tools. They also reduce the barrier to entry for new programmers, but 

they are not sufficient. Those countries that undertake targeted research that benefits 

quantum computation in academic and government research institutions will enjoy a 

significant advantage. Furthermore, government and industry and must partner together 

to ensure that these institutions and early industry adopters have access to commercial 

quantum computers. 

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Global competition 

The U.S. still leads the world in areas such as patents in quantum computing, but 

competition from other countries is rising sharply. Federal grant-making to universities 

and other partners for core quantum research and development remains significant, but 

is also rapidly being eclipsed by other governments. As a result, our belief is that the 

U.S. government's investment in quantum technology is not sufficient to stay 

competitive. The race is on, and the field is rapidly expanding. Countries large and small 

are using novel forms of public-private partnerships to promote quantum 

commercialization. Let me touch on a few. 

Canada has launched a national initiative to grow that country's vibrant quantum 

ecosystem. Known as Quantum Canada, it seeks to preserve Canada's advantage in 

quantum technologies and expand them for long-term economic prosperity. In 

September of last year, Canada committed $76 million to the Transformative Quantum 

Technologies program at the University of Waterloo. 1 The goal is to tackle three 

challenges in quantum research: development of a universal quantum processor, 

quantum sensors and long-distance quantum communications 

Australia also announced an AUD $25 million investment for a total of 5 years to help 

develop a silicon quantum integrated circuit, a critical step in building a functional 

quantum computer. The funding has been allotted to the University of Sydney and the 

University of New South Wales.2 

The European Commission announced last year that it would create a €1-billion 

research effort called the Quantum Technology Flagship. The focus will be on four 

quantum technologies: communication, computing, sensing and simulation.3 A 

McKinsey consulting report estimated that the European Union had more than twice the 

1 Government of Canada. 2016. "Government of Canada invests $900 million to 

transform university research." Canada First Research Excellence Fund. September 6. 

http://www.cfref-apogee.gc.ca/news room-salle de presse/press releasescommuniques/2016/University of Waterloo-eng.aspx 

2 Government of Australia. 2016. "Advancing quantum computing technology," 

Australian Government National Innovation and Science Agenda. 

http://www.innovation.qov.au/page/advancing-guantum-computing-technology 

3 Gibney, Elizabeth. 2016. "Europe plans giant billion-euro quantum technologies 

project." Nature, April 26. http://www.nature.com/news/europe-plans-giant-billion-euroquantum-technologies-project-1.19796 

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number of quantum researchers and one-and-a-half times the funding for quantum 

compared to the United States.4 

The government of China's deep and growing support for quantum research is well 

known. Quantum technologies are viewed as vital to national security and to strategic 

competition. Quantum computing holds a prominent place in China's Five-year National 

Science and Technology plans.5 Construction is underway for a $10 billion research 

supercenter for quantum applications, called the National Laboratory for Quantum 

Information Science.6 Chinese scientists estimate being able to create a 50 qubit 

quantum computer that could exceed the world's fastest supercomputer by 2020. 

The same McKinsey study estimates the country has more quantum researchers than 

the United States. 

The Chinese government is working closely with industry partners to drive their national 

quantum agenda. Alibaba, along with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has 

established the Alibaba Quantum Computing Lab with clearly defined, ambitious goals. 

These include launching a quantum cloud computing platform by 2017 and scaling up to 

100 qubits by 2030.7 

Recommendations for U.S. government 

What can and must the U.S. do to keep pace with these efforts? Let me offer a few 

recommendations from an industry perspective. 

Federal funding for basic quantum research enabled the U.S. to dominate the field of 

Quantum Information Science for decades. It made many subsequent breakthroughs in 

quantum computing possible. Now, in the face of intensive global competition, we 

believe the federal government must do more. It must play a key role in creating an 

environment within the United States that is better than any other country's at fostering 

the commercialization and growth of quantum computation. 

4 Hofman, Sander. 2016. "Start your engines! The race to quantum computing is on." 

Medium, July. https://medium.com/@ASMLcompany/start-your-engines-the-race-toquantum-computing-is-on-14c3076a5c4 7 

5 Costello, John. 2017. "Chinese Efforts in Quantum Information Science: Drivers, 

Milestones, and Strategic Implications." Testimony for the U.S.-China Economic and 

Security Review Commission. March 16. 

https://www .uscc.gov/sites/default/flles/ John%20Costello _ Written%20T estimony _Final2 

.pdf 

6 Lin, Jeffery and P.W. Singer. 2017. "China is opening a new quantum research 

supercenter." Popular Science. October 10. https://www.popsci.com/chinas-launchesnew-quantum-research-supercenter 

7 Costello. Chinese Efforts. 

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As one relevant example of this, in the mid-1990s, the federal government funded a 

competition for the development of the world's highest performing supercomputers, 

called the Advanced Simulation and Computing Program, or ASCI. The goal was to find 

a way to test and maintain the nation's critical nuclear stockpile. The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) defined a series of challenge problems to help American industry design 

the world's leading supercomputers. These powerful machines were built by a 

consortium of vendors including IBM. Not only was it successful in meeting its 

objectives, ASCI also went on to define U.S. leadership in the field of supercomputing 

for years to come. The federal government should consider a similar program for 

quantum computing. 

We support and commend the DOE's Office of Science program to create quantum 

computing testbeds. This effort should be significantly expanded to ensure that we're 

putting the most advanced quantum computers in the hands of U.S. research scientists 

and early industry adopters. This should include early stage commercial quantum 

computers from a variety of industry partners, not just IBM. In this way, we can ensure 

the exploration of various underlying quantum technologies. 

We also need to do a lot more to build a generation of quantum information scientists to 

carry this technology forward. As one possibility, the federal government should look to 

fund the establishment of quantum centers at universities where students are 

introduced to quantum computing, see state-of-the-art technology, and work with 

industry. It could do the same within national laboratories to aid the commercialization of 

the technology. Government at the federal and state levels should work with industry 

and academia to create regional centers of excellence for quantum computing, along 

with topical centers of excellence for quantum-based solutions in areas such as 

computational chemistry and optimization. 

Conclusion 

We live in an age of astonishing progress in digital technologies. So it's surprising to 

many to hear that our intuition about what we can compute is often wrong. We tend to 

think classical computers can solve any problem if they are just big or fast enough. But 

that is not the case. There is a whole class of exponential problems that classical 

computers are not good at, and never will be. Quantum computing will enable us to 

overcome many of these intractable challenges and unleash untold economic benefits 

for society, if we seize this opportunity now. 

I'm confident that we can and we will. America's track record in promoting historic 

scientific discovery is unmatched. It enabled us to establish the field of quantum 

information science and has led us to the doorstep of a new era of computing. With 

quantum technology about to assume a huge strategic importance, now is not the time 

to slow down. There is too much at stake to allow this country to fall behind. Our nation 

stands to benefit from quantum computers in ways we can't even imagine right now. 

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The federal government should do everything in its power to ensure that we continue to 

lead the way towards a quantum future. 

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Scott Crowder is currently Chief Technical Officer and 

Vice President, Quantum Computing, Technical 

Strategy and Transformation for IBM Systems. His 

responsibilities include leading the commercialization 

effort for quantum computers, driving the strategic 

direction across the hardware and software-defined systems 

portfolio, leading the agile and Design Thinking transformation, and 

accelerating innovation within development through special projects. 

Previously, Scott was Vice President, Technical Strategy within IBM 

Corporate Strategy. In this role, he helped define the cross-IBM 

technical strategy for cloud infrastructure, workload optimized 

systems, Big Data and Analytics, composable services, softwaredefined infrastructure and cognitive solutions. Scott joined IBM in 

1995 and was the lead engineer on the industry's first logic-based 

embedded DRAM technology before serving in a variety of executive 

management roles within the semiconductor research and 

development organization. Scott received A.B./Sc.B. degrees in 

Electrical Engineering and International Relations from Brown 

University and a M.A. in Economics and M.Sc./Ph.D. in Electrical 

Engineering from Stanford University. 
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Chairwoman COMSTOCK. I now recognize Dr. Monroe for five 

minutes. 

TESTIMONY OF DR. CHRISTOPHER MONROE, 

DISTINGUISHED UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR & 

BICE ZORN PROFESSOR, 

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS, 

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND; 

FOUNDER AND CHIEF SCIENTIST, IONQ, INC. 

Dr. MONROE. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and the rest of 

the Committee for the opportunity to be here today to testify. 

As a quantum physicist and professor at the University of Maryland and a co-founder and chief scientist at a small company, I 

have over two decades of experience in the field of quantum technology from both the academic and industrial viewpoints. 

I’m testifying here today on behalf of the National Photonics Initiative which is a collaborative alliance among industry, academic, 

and government institutes established in 2013 to raise awareness 

of photonics, that is, the study and application of light at its quantum level, also to coordinate U.S. industry, government, and academia to advance photonics-driven fields critical to maintaining 

U.S. economic competitiveness and national security. 

We have outlined a proposed National Quantum Initiative as 

part of the National Photonics Initiative which will provide infrastructure for the next generation sensors, networks, and quantum 

computers all based on this quantum technology we’ve heard about 

today. 

From previous witnesses this morning, we learn that quantum 

devices follow radical rules. These are new rules with which to 

compute and process information. For instance, with merely 100 

atoms, which is a very tiny amount of material, we can store more 

information than is on all of the memory in the world and in all 

the hard drives in all the computers. I bring this up because with 

these radical rules come radical types of hardware to do this, and 

the real trick in developing quantum hardware is to isolate it from 

the environment, and prevent it from being measured until we 

want to measure it at the end of the game. And photons, since I’m 

representing the National Photonics Initiative, are the medium 

that will be used for communication of quantum information because light can travel large distances without interacting with its 

environment. It’s not hard to do that through fiber networks and 

so forth. A lot of the infrastructure, that exists now can be used 

for quantum communication. 

But there’s equally radical hardware for quantum memory; for 

instance individual atoms, not just atoms as part of a big system 

but individual atoms, one at a time, that are levitated in free space 

in a vacuum chamber. They may be cold. They may be at room 

temperature. There’s all kinds of other hardware. I bring this up 

because with this exotic hardware, there’s a particular problem in 

the field now both at academic institutes and in industry and that 

is at universities, we don’t build things. We don’t do engineering. 

You don’t see an airline being built at a university. On the other 

hand, industry doesn’t have the industrial engineering background. 
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They’re vastly growing as we heard from my colleague, Dr. 

Crowder from IBM, and other industry players are making a big 

play in this field. But the big challenge is I can hark back to the 

days when classical computers in the ’50s and ’60s transitioned 

from vacuum tubes to silicon. The early silicon transistor was a big 

beast, and miniaturizing it took the task of a new generation of engineers. They weren’t the vacuum tube engineers that did this. And 

so we’re in a sense missing that critical link between research and 

development. 

We propose the National Quantum Initiative to establish several 

innovation laboratories that will indeed build devices. These would 

be public-private institutes that take advantage of the best of both 

worlds, having embedded industrial researchers with young students, maybe in computer science, who don’t know so much physics 

and they want to get in this game. The National Quantum Initiative will be essential for the U.S. to maintain leadership in this 

field, now and into the future. We’ve heard lots of testimony of our 

competition abroad. I sit on advisory boards in Europe, Canada, 

also in China, and indeed, their coordination is alarming. We’ve 

heard multi-billion dollar estimates in China, both at the conglomerate Alibaba and also the government to build quantum centers. 

A National Quantum Initiative we feel is critical to move quantum technology from its current research status to real-world applications. Such investment would create the infrastructure, both 

physical and human capital needed to propel the U.S. into a leadership position in quantum technology. This would create vast opportunities for workforce creation in this field, economic growth in energy, medicine, and security. 

I again thank the committee and its leadership for the opportunity to testify today. On behalf of myself and the National 

Photonics Initiative. I look forward to answering your questions 

and working with you and the committee to establish a National 

Quantum Initiative. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Monroe follows:] 
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STATEMENT TO THE 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE AND TECHNOLOGY OF THE 

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

Hearing on 

American Leadership in Quantum Technology 

October 24, 2017 

Christopher Monroe, PhD 

on behalf of the National Photonics Initiative 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify, Mr. Chairman. I am honored to be 

here before you and the Committee to offer testimony on American Leadership in Quantum Technology. For your background, I am a quantum physicist and Professor at the University of Maryland, a fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute between the University of Maryland and the National Institute 

of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the chief scientist and cofounder of lonQ, Inc., with over two decades specializing in the field of 

quantum information science. 

I am testifying today on behalf of the National Photonics Initiative, a collaborative alliance among industry, academia and government formed in 2013, 

by top scientific societies including the Optical Society, SPIE- the international society for optics and photonics- the IEEE Photonics Society, the 

Laser Institute of America and the American Physical Society. The mission 

of the National Photonics Initiative is to raise awareness of photonics- the 

science and application of light - and the impact of photonics on our everyday lives; increase cooperation and coordination among US industry, government and academia to advance photonics-driven fields such as quantum computing; and, drive US investment in areas of photonics critical to 

maintaining US economic competitiveness and national security. 

Photonic devices, involving light or microwave fields, play essential roles in 

nearly all aspects of quantum information science. It is within that context 

and a desire to drive US competitiveness and national security that I am offering testimony on quantum computing and the need for our nation to create and support a National Quantum Initiative (NQI). 
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About Quantum Information Science 

Exponential growth in the power of information technology- Moore's Lawhas catalyzed US productivity and economic growth over the last 50 years. 

But, like much of our nation's aging infrastructure, this growth is now ending as scientific breakthroughs from the 1950s and 1960s reach their technological limits. This jeopardizes the safety and security of the American 

people and threatens what has been the backbone of US economic growth 

over the past several decades. 

The demise of Moore's Law has mobilized the science and industry communities to search for fundamentally new approaches to information processing. Quantum technologies, based on fundamental particles of nature 

such as individual atoms and photons, are natural targets for innovation, as 

they hold great promise to become the computers, networks and sensors of 

tomorrow. Quantum information science is based on exploiting subtle aspects of quantum physics, such as "quantum superposition" and "entanglement" for valuable, real-world technologies. These technologies can handle 

computationally complex problems, provide communication security and 

enhance navigation, imaging and other sensing technologies in ways that 

are impossible using conventional hardware. 

Quantum information science leverages the radical ability of quantum systems to store and process multiple pieces of information simultaneously in 

individual computing elements. For example, in a quantum computer, 

merely 300 atoms under full quantum control could store in a state of "superposition" more numbers than there are atoms in the universe. Quantum 

teleportation allows quantum information to flow securely between distant 

parties without occupying the space in-between. New applications and algorithms that exploit quantum capabilities are continually emerging, from 

code breaking, quantum cryptography and database searches to machinelearning algorithms and quantum simulations of biochemical processes and 

material properties. As quantum information science is developed in the future, the list of applications will continue to grow. 

Nearly all implementations of quantum computers will use photonics in a 

key role for their operations. A quantum Internet will communicate data between quantum computers using pulses of light traveling on optical fibers. 

Quantum photonics is already used to operate the most accurate clocks on 

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Earth and the most sensitive probes for biomedical use and geo-exploration. 

Efforts to Advance Quantum Information Science Domestically and 

Globally 

Because of the great promise quantum information sc;ience holds for nextgeneration computing and processing, there are several independent federal and industry efforts underway to advance the research and technology. 

For example, widespread national interest in quantum information science 

also coincides with a new perspective on quantum sensors and quantum 

computing from the Department of Energy (DOE) and recent initiatives 

launched by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). 

At the same time, publicly funded efforts in quantum information science 

are now complemented by growing industrial interest in quantum information technology, including efforts at Google, Honeywell, Hughes Research, IBM, Intel, Microsoft and Northrop-Grumman. Several startup companies, funded by venture capital and other equity sources, have risen near 

universities and laboratories throughout the country. 

Perhaps most importantly, the United States is not alone in pursuing quantum research and technology development. In contrast to the decentralized 

funding structure of quantum information science in the United States, European entities have recently established large, focused, academic/industrial thrusts including the UK Quantum Hub Network ($400 million/five 

years), the Netherlands QuTech Initiative ($150 million/10 years) and the 

European Union (EU) Flagship Quantum Program ($1.3 billion/1 0 years). 

Outside of Europe, China is aggressive in its commitment to quantum; the 

country recently launched a satellite devoted to quantum communication 

protocols, and there is report of a $10 billion investment into a quantum laboratory in Hefei, China. Major initiatives are also underway in Australia 

and Canada. 

This explosion of activity worldwide should be a call for action in the United 

States. To ensure competitiveness and national security in the field of 

quantum information science, the United States should dedicate resources 

to coordinating existing federal and private programs, and filling in critical 

gaps. Especially important are those gaps that exist between academic and 

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government laboratories that lack systems engineering and product development expertise, and within the private industry, which lacks a trained 

quantum engineering workforce. 

A National Quantum Initiative 

A National Quantum Initiative (NQI) will address one of the Grand Challenges of the 21st century- harnessing quantum as a fundamentally new 

technology to serve national needs in information infrastructure, chemical 

and biomedical research and development (R&D), cybersecurity and defense capabilities. As quantum information sciences have the potential to 

touch nearly all areas of science and technology, its development and implementation through the NQI will naturally engage all STEM fields. 

Quantum research has conventionally been led by academic institutes and 

government laboratories. Examples of successful demonstrations of quantum hardware include sensors for gravity and for electromagnetic fields with 

quantum-limited sensitivity; small quantum networks for the point-to-point 

sharing of information with guaranteed security; and small quantum processors comprised of 10 to 20 quantum bits. However, the transition from 

quantum research to usable quantum technology in the marketplace is impeded by several challenges: 

• The mismatch between the quantum research community, which 

does not engineer or manufacture products, and the industrial engineering community, which does not have a sizable workforce with 

training in the quantum sciences. 

• The disparity between small-company innovators and their yet-to-be 

developed marketplaces. 

• An ecosystem of conventional technologies to support quantum devices that has not been developed because quantum technologies 

are not yet used in high-volume applications. 

• Conventional device manufacturers typically do not have the expertise to develop products targeted at quantum systems. 

A catalyst is urgently needed to bootstrap the quantum economy, much like 

early investments by government sparked the development and growth of 

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the Internet. The overarching goal of the NQI is to remedy these gaps in 

capabilities and marketplaces in order to hasten the development and deployment of quantum information technology, while propelling the United 

States into a continued leadership role in this vital field. 

It is envisioned that the NQI will concentrate on three pillars of quantum 

technology: 

1. Quantum-enhanced sensors. Advanced electronic and photonic sensors will be developed and deployed that reach fundamental quantum 

noise levels of sensitivity and, in some cases, use tailored quantum 

states of light and matter to reach below these noise floors or enable 

distributed sensors across space. Examples include the detection of 

gravitational forces for remote sensing and imaging of subsurface 

material composition (caves, minerals, underground infrastructure), 

the sensing of proximal magnetic fields in biomedical imaging, absolute navigation in GPS-deprived environments and networks of portable atomic clocks for navigation and communication. 

2. Optical photonic quantum communication networks. Similar to its use 

in the fiber-optics-based Internet that spans the world, light is ideal for 

the communication of quantum information over distance. Photonic 

quantum channels between spatially separated systems can exploit 

the laws of quantum physics to ensure information security or distribute information in new ways for communication protocols that are impossible using non-quantum approaches. Examples include the establishment of a fiber-optic network of quantum entangled nodes for 

communication including remote, secure access to centralized quantum computers, remote imaging, and multiparty quantum communication to optimize decision-making protocols. 

3. Quantum computers. In a quantum computer, information is stored as 

quantum bits, which can represent and process information in an exponentially large space of possible states. This ability holds great 

promise for solving problems intractable for conventional computers. 

Apart from widely known quantum algorithms such as factoring large 

numbers into primes for use in message decryption, quantum algorithms promise to speed the search of unstructured databases or optimize complex functions for applications from logistics to machine 

learning and pattern recognition for autonomous navigation. Quantum 

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computers can also be applied to simulate the complex functionality 

of novel materials, biomolecular processes or complex economic 

models. One example is minimizing economic cost functions that depend on a complex maze of interacting forces, such as a marketplace 

that may involve a nearly uncountable number of factors. 

About Quantum Innovation Labs 

Under the NQI, several Quantum Innovation Labs will need to be established, each created to address aspects of a particular technology and its 

potential applications. Quantum Innovation Labs will attack the hardest 

challenges in quantum technology, to help bring the new capabilities to the 

marketplace. Crucially, they will also train a new generation of quantum engineers armed with the foundation of quantum mechanics combined with 

computer science, while embedding industrial engineers in government and 

academic laboratory settings. 

The physical basis of quantum information science assumes several forms 

involving fundamental entities such as photons, atoms, atomic-scale impurities in solids or superconducting circuits. Each of these platforms has certain advantages that are suitable for particular applications and, as a result, 

a successful national portfolio will involve several concurrent approaches. 

Each platform will require the advanced engineering of very specific fabrication and operation procedures, such as the fabrication of optical waveguide circuits on a chip, superconducting circuit integration, ultra-high vacuum environments and ultra-low temperature devices. 

As envisioned, the Quantum Innovation Labs will serve as a collaborative 

space shared by academic, government and industrial researchers to create complete systems - quantum "testbeds" - consisting of hardware and 

software aimed at practical applications. The Labs will be encouraged to integrate sensor, communication and computing technologies, where appropriate. Each Quantum Innovation Lab will include an educational component, closely integrated with the development and innovation activities, to 

train the next generation of quantum engineers. This may include the establishment of Quantum Engineering degrees granted from partner universities. 

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For the NQI to succeed, Quantum Innovation Labs will need be located 

proximal to, but not necessarily embedded in, existing government laboratories, universities and other appropriate facilities. Labs will support efforts 

at specific sites or may be distributed across collaborating teams at different locations. The number of Quantum Innovation Labs should ideally be 

four, as deployable quantum technology is now sufficiently defined so that 

the Labs can specialize in certain physical platforms and goals. Distinct 

labs may specialize in superconducting circuit quantum computing; 

trapped-ion quantum computing; silicon-based quantum computing; and, 

integration between platforms using optical interfaces and interconnects, 

among other capabilities. 

Government and Industry Collaboration 

It is envisioned that the NQI will be administered by an inter-agency quantum working group, with funding directly flowing through the federal science 

agencies such as DOE and NSF, as well as NIST. The Labs should be 

semi-autonomous (within federal oversight constraints) to enable a flexible 

and innovative mode of operation. High interest in quantum technologies 

has also been shown by Department of Defense (DOD) agencies and laboratories including Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency 

(DARPA) and the US intelligence community, including the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), National Security Agency 

(NSA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). These should also 

act as partners and advisors of the NQI. 

Industrial participation in the Quantum Innovation Labs is a critical component of the NQI, and this requires special consideration in three key areas: 

1. Embedded industry engineers. Industry engineers will be embedded 

in the Labs and funded by their home companies or through the NQI. 

This will provide industry players in quantum information technology 

the opportunity to work alongside experts in a variety of quantum platforms, while exposing the Labs to systems engineering approaches 

to product development. Additionally, industry participants will be exposed to a trained potential workforce of academic and government 

NQI researchers and students. It is expected that industry staff would 

rotate in the Labs for various terms and return to their industry settings armed with new expertise that can be transferred to others. 

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These scientists and engineers may also spend time at participating 

universities for studies toward new degrees in Quantum Engineering. 

2. Direct funding of industry quantum efforts. Industry groups developing 

quantum hardware that relates to Quantum Innovation Lab efforts 

could be funded directly from agencies in close coordination with the 

Labs themselves, perhaps through targeted Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) 

grants. Such an arrangement may be preferable for certain technologies that require extensive existing infrastructure or involve proprietary processes. Such funding will also assist in bootstrapping companies as they develop marketplaces for new products. Labs will provide bridge funding for accelerated commercialization of the most mature quantum technologies as well as interface with conventional IT, 

biomedical, military markets and private equity communities. 

3. Intellectual property (IP). The Quantum Innovation Labs are expected 

to be fruitful incubators of US intellectual property in quantum technology. IP-sharing and nondisclosure agreements will be negotiated 

so that industrial players need not expose existing internal IP portfolios. IP created at the Labs themselves will be shared between all entities (including multiple industrial players) while respecting the inventors. In cases where IP generated at the Quantum Innovation Labs involves fundamental quantum device characteristics or functionality, 

IP-sharing arrangements would be crafted to benefit all industrial 

players. For higher-leveiiP that deals with applications for particular 

markets or pertains directly to products, care will be taken to ensure 

that each industrial player is able to leverage its activity in the Labs in 

order to pursue its own IP outside the NQI. 

Recommended Funding and Timeline 

The proposed federal budget for the NQI over its first five-year period 

(Phase I) is $500 million, which will fund each of the four Quantum Innovation Labs at $25 to $35 million per year plus support for companies and academic institutions that will collaborate directly with Lab efforts. Proposals 

for developing a Quantum Innovation Lab will be evaluated by the interagency quantum working group, using an external review process organized jointly through the relevant federal science agencies. In the early 

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stages, these funds will establish the Quantum Innovation Lab administrative structures, facilities infrastructure (e.g. advanced laboratories, materials fabrication facilities, low-noise controlled environments) and equipment 

(e.g. electronic instrumentation and high-performance computers). In the 

later stages, the NQI funds will be primarily devoted to Laboratory staff, 

embedded industry and other personnel, and possible private funding from 

outside groups collaborating on the use and testing of the developed technology. 

After Phase I, the NQI will have shown significant progress in the performance of quantum sensors, quantum communication systems and quantum computers as described above, with clear demonstrations of deployable systems that can be used by others or, in some cases, evolve into commercial products. Embedded personnel at Quantum Innovation Labs are 

expected to return expertise to their academic, government or industrial 

homes, with long-standing ties between these entities. 

In Phase II (years six and beyond), the NQI will be devoted to new scientific 

and technological applications of hardware and software developed in the 

Labs, while also pressing on new technological platforms that may arise. In 

these ways, the NQI will play a crucial role in the engineering and deployment of quantum devices, as well as the training of a new quantum STEM 

workforce that will propel quantum technology through the 21st century and 

assure that the US leads the world in the future of quantum information 

technology. 

Conclusion 

Now is a critical time for federal investment to initiate moving quantum 

technology from its current research status to real-world applications. Such 

investment will create the infrastructure - both physical and workforce -

needed to move the United States into a leadership position in quantum information technology, a technology that will create vast opportunities for 

workforce creation, economic growth and betterment of society across areas as diverse as health outcomes and information security. 

The National Photonics Initiative, and its consortium of leaders from industry and academia with knowledge in information technology and quantum 

science and technology, strongly recommends the United States establish 

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a quantum information technology base that will lead to new opportunities 

in communication, sensing and computing; develop a marketplace for companies- small and large -to sell new products based on quantum information science; and, build the much-needed quantum workforce to grow 

this new industry. 

I thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, for the opportunity to speak on quantum computing and the need for a nationally focused effort to advance quantum information science in the United States. 

With extensive reach into the science R&D community, I and the National 

Photonics Initiative stand ready to work with the government as it considers 

the recommendations put forth in this testimony. 

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October 24, 2017 Summary of Testimony: C. Monroe 

Summary of Testimony: American Leadership in Quantum Technology 

U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Tech., 

Subcommittee on Research and Tech. and Subcommittee on Energy 

Christopher Monroe, PhD (Professor at the Univ. of Maryland, Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute, Chief Scientist at lonQ, Inc.), on behalf of the National Photonics Initiative 

The astounding progression of computing power over the last 50 years and its 

critical impact on the economy will not continue in its current mode. The exponential 

growth and power of information technology (commonly referred as "Moore's Law") will 

soon end as devices approach their technological limits. Quantum computing offers a 

promising new mode of computing that processes superpositions of inputs, effectively 

performing massively parallel computing for tasks that are impossible on any conventional computer. Quantum computers can break codes, teleport information between 

distant parties, search and optimize over large data sets for fast pattern-recognition and 

efficient logistics, and simulate bio-chemical and other substances for designing useful 

materials for drug delivery or energy conversion. As quantum computers are developed 

in the future, the list of applications will continue to grow, especially in the cybersecurity 

area, and quantum technology will have a significant impact on the US economy. 

The radical principles of a quantum computer require equally radical technology 

that has been developed at US university and government laboratories over the last two 

decades. Good quantum memory is best stored in material systems that have quantum 

properties, such as individual atoms, simple superconducting circuit loops, or atomiclike defect sites in solid materials. Quantum memory must also be coupled in order to 

form more complex superpositions and be scaled to solve interesting problems. Such 

quantum communication between qubit memory will likely involve individual photons. 

Many industry groups (including Google, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft) have begun 

investing in quantum teams and approaches to building quantum computers. However, 

there is a significant workforce gap between research and fabrication: university laboratories conduct much of the research in this area, but are not equipped to build usable 

devices, while industrial players do not typically have the expertise in quantum systems 

to apply engineering skills. 

We propose a National Quantum Initiative (NQI) that will support four Quantum 

Innovation Laboratories to help translate university personnel and quantum device 

know-how to industrial settings where quantum computers will be tested and manufactured. The new Quantum Innovation Labs will embed industrial engineers with academic 

and government researchers in order to lower the barrier to the production of useful 

quantum technology. The NQI will train a new generation of scientific and technology 

leaders in this vital field, while educating the workforce in related STEM fields. 

Other countries have begun aggressive programs to accelerate quantum technology development, particularly the European Union. China, for example, recently 

launched a satellite for secure quantum communication and invested $10 billion in a 

public-private quantum laboratory. The NQI is critical for the US to stay at the forefront 

of quantum technology, not only to lead the future of computing, but also to develop 

new security protocols and contribute to a growing economy. 
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Christopher Monroe: Biosketch 

Christopher Monroe was born and raised outside of Detroit, Ml, and graduated from MIT in 

1987. He received his PhD in Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, studying with Carl 

Wieman and Eric Cornell. His work paved the way toward the achievement of Bose-Einstein 

condensation in 1995 and the Nobel Prize in Physics for Wieman and Cornell in 2001. From 

1992-2000 he was a postdoc then staff physicist at the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST) in the group of David Wineland, leading the team that demonstrated the first 

quantum logic gate in any physical system. Based on this work, Wineland was awarded the 

Nobel Prize in Physics in 2012. In 2000, Monroe became Professor of Physics and Electrical 

Engineering at the University of Michigan, where he pioneered the use of single photons as a 

quantum conduit between isolated atoms and demonstrated the first atom trap integrated on a 

semiconductor chip. From 2006-2007 was the Director of the National Science Foundation 

Ultrafast Optics Center at the University of Michigan. 

In 2007 he became the Bice Zorn Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland (UMD) and 

a Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute between UMD, NIST, and NSA. He is also a Fellow of the 

Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science at UMD, NIST, and NSA. His Maryland 

team was the first to teleport quantum information between matter separated by a large 

distance; they pioneered the use of ultrafast optical techniques for controlling atomic qubits 

and for quantum simulations of magnetism; and most recently demonstrated the first 

programmable and reconfigurable quantum computer. 

In 2015, Monroe and Jungsang Kim co-founded lonQ, Inc., a startup company that is fabricating 

atom-based quantum computer modules with a full software stack and user interface to be 

accessed via the internet cloud. The company is funded at a level of $22 million primarily 

through Venture Capital investor groups NEA and GV. 

In the last 20 years, Monroe has given over 350 seminars or public lectures and has trained over 

100 research scientists, postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduates. He has 160 

refereed papers to his name with over 30,000 citations, 5 patents, and his work has been 

covered repeatedly by media outlets from NPR to the Wall Street Journal. Since 1995, his 

research has been funded at a level of over $40 million from US Federal Agencies such as DoD, 

DARPA, IARPA, and NSF. He regularly consults for the US Government, foreign science 

agencies, and private industry on the topic of quantum science and technology. He sits on the 

advisory boards of the Institute for Quantum Computing (Canada), the Networked Quantum 

Information Technologies Hub (United Kingdom), and the Center for Quantum Information 

(Beijing, China). 

Monroe received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (1997), the 

International Award for Quantum Communications (2000), the 1.1. Rabi Prize {2001), and the 

Arthur Schawlow Prize (2015). In 2015, Monroe was named Distinguished Professor at the 

University of Maryland, and in 2016 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. 
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Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you. I now recognize Dr. Guha. 

TESTIMONY OF DR. SUPRATIK GUHA, DIRECTOR, 

NANOSCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DIVISION, 

ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY; 

PROFESSOR, INSTITUTE FOR MOLECULAR ENGINEERING, 

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 

Dr. GUHA. Thank you. Chairman Weber, Chairwoman Comstock, 

Ranking Member Veasey and Ranking Member Lipinski, and Members of the Subcommittees, thank you for the opportunity to appear 

before you today to discuss the status and future of quantum technologies, as seen from the perspective of the U.S. Department of 

Energy National Laboratories. I am Supratik Guha, Director of the 

Center for Nanoscale Materials facility supported by Basic Energy 

Sciences at the Argonne National Laboratory. 

The cost of computing has decreased by about ten orders of magnitude in the past 60 years, due to Moore’s Law scaling. Yet, the 

basic architecture of the computer has remained essentially the 

same. Recent developments in quantum science promise a new 

computing architecture dramatically different from anything that 

we have used before. Quantum computing today is in its early 

stages. This technology will not replace conventional computing 

machines, but it will offer unprecedented speed and efficiency advantages over conventional computing in three very important 

areas. These are in cryptography, complex data analytics, and computational quantum chemistry. Advances in the latter would 

change the way we invent new materials. If the history of computers is any indication, there will likely be many more applications in future. 

Subtle effects in quantum mechanics enable a quantum computer 

to probe information space simultaneously rather than sequentially, resulting in its vast superiority over classical computing. 

U.S. companies have recently built small quantum processors containing a few tenths of quantum bits, the unit devices within a 

quantum computer, but today’s state of the art is a long way from 

where we wish to go. Quantum bits are prone to errors. At today’s 

level of perfection, we need quantum processors containing tens of 

thousands to a million quantum bits. Advances are required in devices in architectures, and this will only be as good as the materials upon which these are based. 

The history of electronics has shown us that there comes a time 

when massive scale fundamental materials research is needed to 

propel forward initial demonstrations. This was the case, for instance, with silicon microelectronics, which gave us computing and 

the Internet. The time for that materials ramp-up has arrived for 

quantum technology. There is not enough basic materials research 

going on today to support the growth that is required. 

The needs are numerous. For instance, we need new materials 

for high-quality quantum bits that can operate at room temperature for quantum memory and for quantum channels that can connect quantum chips. 

Think of a fully integrated quantum processor as a number of artificial atoms coupled together that compute and store information. 
116 

New materials hold the key to the ultimate development of these 

components. 

With the increasingly complex nature of today’s materials research, corporate entities are unable to carry out this basic science 

work like they used to. The task, however, plays into the strengths 

of the Office of Basic Energy Sciences within the U.S. Department 

of Energy and the Department of Energy National Laboratories. 

The Office of Basic Energy Sciences has prioritized investments in 

quantum materials. The National Laboratories offer unmatched capabilities, large-scale material synthesis, characterization, nanofabrication, and computational materials discovery all integrated 

under one roof. Their large user facilities, the Nanoscience Research Centers, light sources and the leadership computing facilities, tether university-based ecosystems around them. The National 

Labs and their user facilities are well-positioned to be major players in the future of quantum research. 

We need to develop an educated workforce that is able to engage 

in quantum mechanics as engineers. Universities nationwide have 

begun responding to this. As an example, the University of Chicago 

has launched one of the first Ph.D. programs in quantum engineering. It has also created the Chicago Quantum Exchange, a research 

and educational collaboratory with Argonne and Fermi National 

Laboratories. 

Quantum computing is a long game but one that we cannot afford to ignore. Thank you for your time and attention. I would be 

happy to respond to any questions that you might have. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Guha follows:] 
117 

Testimony of Dr. Supratik Guha 

Director ofthe Nanoscience and Technology Division 

and the Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory 

before the 

Subcommittee on Energy and the Subcommittee on Research and Technology 

of the 

U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, & Technology 

Octo"!Jer 24, 2017 

Chairman Weber, Chairwoman Comstock, Ranking Member Veasey and Ranking 

Member Lipinski, and members of the subcommittees, thank you for the 

opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the status and future of quantum 

technologies, as seen from the perspective of the U.S. Department of Energy National 

Laboratories. I am Supratik Guha, Director of the Center for Nanoscale Materials 

facility supported by Basic Energy Sciences at the Argonne National Laboratory 

located in Lemont, Illinois. I am also a professor at the Institute for Molecular 

Engineering at the University of Chicago. Prior to joining Argonne and the 

University of Chicago in 2015, I spent twenty years at IBM: initially as a research 

staff member and then, between 2010 and 2015, as Director of Physical Sciences at 

IBM Research. During this time, IBM's quantum computing group reported to me 

and I played a key managerial and strategic role in its rapid growth. I am a materials 

scientist by training, and throughout my career I have specialized in taking 

demonstrations in exploratory science and converting them into technologies. 

The cost of computing has decreased by about 10 orders of magnitude in the past 60 

years, driven primarily by the Moore's Law scaling of microelectronics chips. Yet, 

the basic architecture of the computer-called the von Neumann architecture-has 

remained essentially the same. Recent developments in quantum information 

science raise the prospects of a new, rapidly emerging computing architecture. 

Quantum computing today is in its early stages. This technology will not replace 

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conventional computing machines, but it offers unprecedented speed and efficiency 

advantages over conventional computing in three very important areas. The first of 

these is in cryptography-a quantum computer with its orders of magnitude 

advantage in speed would easily decrypt today's security codes. The second area is 

that of computational quantum chemistry and physics. For instance, a powerful 

quantum computer would be able to exactly solve the electronic structure of large 

molecules: this is unsolvable today using classical computers. We would be able to 

predict and invent new materials much quicker and cheaply instead of relying upon 

trial and error experimentation, as we do today. The consequences for basic science 

and industry in areas such as drug discovery, as just one example, are enormous. 

The third area is in complex data analytics, say, in large-scale traffic congestion 

routing problems. A quantum computer will possess a significant speed advantage 

in solving such challenges. These are three areas of application that we know of 

today; if the history of computers is any indication, then there will likely be many 

more in future. 

Quantum computing is related to two other important and emerging fieldsquantum communications, which enables secure information transfer over long 

distances; and quantum sensing, the ability to make physical measurements that are 

more accurate than those achievable by classical techniques. Quantum computing, 

quantum communications, and quantum sensing-referred together as "quantum 

information science" -depend upon "quantum entanglement", a subtle effect in 

quantum mechanics that can have profound end consequences. When two quantum 

devices are entangled, knowledge about the state of one increases our knowledge of 

the state of the other, no matter the physical distance between them. It is this 

property of entanglement that enables a quantum computer to probe information 

space rapidly, and simultaneously rather than sequentially, resulting in vast 

superiority over classical computing for some classes of problems. Quantum 

computing and quantum information can be enabling technologies with a 

crosscutting impact across a wide swath of our lives from national security, to drug 

design, to data analytics. 

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Quantum devices (called quantum bits) are the unit devices of a quantum 

information system and are the equivalent of a switch in a classical computer. 

Dramatic improvements in the quality of quantum bits over the past 10 yearsbrought about by improvement in materials and better physics-based designshave enabled the building of small quantum processors containing few tens of 

quantum bits. These quantum bits are prone to errors and require error correction 

algorithms to be applied. At to day's level of quantum bit perfection, it is believed 

that a quantum processor containing tens of thousands to a million quantum bits 

would be able to perform tasks of significance that could have clear advantages over 

classical machines. An example would be the accurate computation of the electronic 

structure of a large molecule containing hundreds of electrons involved in chemical 

bonding. As quantum bits improve and better error correction schemes are 

discovered, the processor will require fewer numbers of quantum bits in its 

circuitry. Building quantum processors with tens of quantum bits is a landmark 

demonstration that establishes feasibility. But today's state-of-the-art is a long way 

from where we wish to go. The challenge now lies in scaling this technology and 

doing the fundamental science and engineering necessary for this. Advances will 

require a combined effort in quantum devices and quantum architectures, and this 

will, in turn, be only as good as the materials on which these are based. 

If we look at the history of electronics, there comes a time in the trajectory of 

technology development when massive scale materials research is needed to propel 

forward feasibility demonstrations driven by physicists and electrical engineers. 

This was true with silicon microelectronics, which has given us computing and the 

Internet. This was also true for compound semiconductor technology, which has 

given us solid-state lighting and telecommunications. The time for that materials 

ramp up has arrived for quantum technology. This will be materials science 

research of a fundamental nature that will inform the effort in devices and 

architectures that is also needed. 

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The fundamental materials research needs are numerous. To build their quantum 

processors a few major US technology companies have used quantum bits that 

operate at temperatures close to absolute zero -a showstopper for ubiquitous 

deployment. Opportunities exist for new types of quantum bits, particularly 

semiconductor quantum bits, which could operate at room temperatures and be 

scalable using the tools of conventional chip processing. There is a need for 

quantum channels that can connect different quantum chips together, and needs for 

new materials for quantum memory so that information can be processed entirely 

within the quantum space, thereby eliminating bottlenecks. One can think of a fully 

integrated quantum processor as a number of artificial atoms coupled together that 

compute and store information. It is important to re-emphasize that this is new 

territory for materials science and will require a deep scientific understanding of 

quantum effects and the creation and manipulation of individual quanta of 

information within materials. New materials hold the key to the ultimate 

development of mature quantum technologies, just as they have for other 

information technologies. Quantum computing is a long game, but one that we 

cannot afford to ignore. It will open up new horizons in information processing. 

Fifty years ago, the large industrial research and development laboratories 

conducted a significant portion of the discovery science and underlying fundamental 

materials research that led to many of the technologies that we enjoy today, such as 

the Internet and the mobile phone. With changing business models and the 

increasingly complex nature of today's materials research, corporate entities are 

unable to perform this role today. The task does however play into the strengths of 

the Office of Basic Energy Sciences within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and 

the DOE National Laboratories. These laboratories, offering unmatched capabilities 

in large-scale synthesis, nanofabrication, massive parallel characterization, and 

computational materials discovery under one roof, enable an integrated, focused 

effort. Further, their large user facilities-the Nanoscience Research Centers 

(NSRCs), light sources and the leadership computing facilities-anchor universitybased ecosystems around them. The five highly successful NSRCs distributed across 

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the nation, authorized and appropriated for funding by Congress a decade ago as 

part of the National Nanotechnology initiative, are well positioned to act as a 

springboard for a new National Quantum Materials initiative, partnered with 

academia and informed by the needs of the industry. One can argue that the 

emergence of quantum information sciences is a direct consequence of the National 

Nanotechnology Initiative and a Quantum Materials Initiative could be a sequel to 

this. 

The United States continues to maintain leadership in quantum technologies, but 

rapid research growth in China and Europe may threaten this position. China has 

announced multi-billion dollar investments in quantum information research 

targeted towards specific centers of excellence. European investment is more 

spread out and totals between one to two billion dollars. China recently has made 

impressive strides in the demonstration of satellite based secure quantum links 

over twelve hundred kilometers-a tour de force engineering demonstration. 

Future quantum technologies will demand a new type of educated workforce with 

the multidisciplinary ability to engage in quantum mechanics as engineers. 

Universities nationwide have begun responding to this. The University of Chicago 

has launched one of the first Ph.D. programs in quantum engineering in the nation. 

The Center for Quantum Exchange, announced by the University of Chicago in 

partnership with the Argonne National Laboratory and the Fermi National 

Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, will develop a new generation of 

graduate students who will learn their skills in close collaboration with national 

laboratory scientists and academics. 

DOE and its laboratories are strengthening their presence in quantum materials and 

information research. The laboratories possess the necessary skills across the 

entire ecosystem: from algorithm and system architecture to the materials science 

and physics. The Office of Basic Energy Sciences has prioritized investments in 

quantum materials and the national laboratories recognize quantum information 

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science research as a strategic focus area. Unique equipment developed at Argonne 

for research in nanomaterials, such as synchrotron based x-ray microscopy, is being 

used to "see" exquisitely small distortions in crystals used for building quantum bits. 

The "Quantum Factory," a comprehensive experimental facility for the synthesis of 

quantum materials with atomic layer precision has been set up at Argonne in joint 

collaboration with The University of Chicago. 

Thank you for your time and attention to this critically important topic. I would be 

happy to respond to any questions that you might have. 

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Testimony of Dr. Supratik Guha 

Director ofthe Nanoscience and Technology Division 

and the Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory 

before the 

Subcommittee on Energy and the Subcommittee on Research and Technology 

of the 

U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, & Technology 

October 24, 2017 

SUMMARY 

• Developments in quantum information science raise the prospects of a new, rapidly 

emerging computing architecture. 

• A quantum computer probes information space rapidly and simultaneously, rather than 

sequentially, with vast superiority over classical computing for some classes of problems 

and potential impact on national security, drug design, data analytics, and more. 

• New materials hold the key to the ultimate development of mature quantum technologies. 

• The increasingly complex nature of materials research plays to the strengths of the U.S. 

Department of Energy (DOE) and national laboratories, with: 

o Capabilities in large scale synthesis, nanofabrication, massive parallel 

characterization, and computational materials discovery all under one roof 

o Five Nanoscience Research Centers distributed across the nation, positioned to act as 

a springboard for a new National Quantum Materials initiative, partnered with 

academia and informed by the needs of the industry 

• The United States continues to maintain leadership in quantum technologies but rapid 

research growth in China and Europe may threaten this position. 

• Future quantum technologies will demand a new type of educated workforce with the 

multidisciplinary ability to engage in quantum mechanics as engineers. 

DOE laboratories are strengthening their presence in quantum materials. 

o For example, unique equipment Argonne has developed for research in 

nanomaterials, such as synchrotron based X-ray imaging, is being used to "see" 

exquisitely small distortions in crystals used for building quantum bits. 

o The Center for Quantum Exchange, announced by the University of Chicago in 

partnership with Argonne and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, will develop a 

new generation of students who will learn their skills in close collaboration with 

national laboratory scientists and academics. 

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Supratik Guha, PhD 

Director, Nanoscience and Technology Division and the Center for Nanoscale Materials 

Argonne National Laboratory 

Supratik Guha is the Director of the Nanoscience and Technology Division and the 

Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory, and a Professor at the 

Institute for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago. 

Dr. Guha came to Argonne in 2015 after spending twenty years at ffiM Research where 

he served as the Director of Physical Sciences (2010-20 15), responsible for IBM's 

worldwide strategy for research in the physical sciences. At IBM, Dr. Guha pioneered the 

materials research that led to IBM's high dielectric constant metal gate transistor, one of 

the most significant developments in silicon microelectronics technology that enabled the 

continuation of Moore's Law. Between 2010 and 2015, he was also responsible for 

significantly expanding the size and strategic initiatives of IBM's quantum computing 

group, which reported to him. 

Dr. Guha is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the 

Materials Research Society, American Physical Society and the recipient of the 2015 

Prize for Industrial Applications of Physics. He is one of only a few scientists who has 

been a tenured professor, an executive at a major multinational company, and an 

executive at a major national laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in materials science in 

1991 from the University of Southern California, and a B. Tech in 1985 from the Indian 

Institute of Technology. At the University of Chicago and Argonne, his interests are 

focused on discovery science in the area of materials and systems for future information 

processing. 
125 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. I now recognize myself for five minutes 

for questions. And let’s see. From the testimony given today in both 

of our panels, we know more about what the United States is doing 

to pursue quantum research and development, and we also know 

that other nations are heavily investing in this, in particular the 

United Kingdom, Netherlands, European Union, Australia, Canada, and, of course, China. 

What are the risks to our economy and national security if we 

aren’t the leaders in this research, and in particular, in quantum 

information science? For any of you. 

Dr. MONROE. I might begin. Thank you for the question, Madam 

Chairwoman. I think one of the risks I see at the university level 

is students, foreign students. They come here, they want to stay 

here. They want to be where the best is, and we have the best. The 

U.S. is well-acknowledged as having the best higher education system in the world. We don’t want those people leaving, frankly. I 

think that is a security issue in the long run. It’s an economic 

issue. These are highly trained and very smart people. We want 

them here creating economic growth here in the U.S. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. So stapling the green card to the degree 

might be helpful. Okay. Others? 

Dr. CROWDER. Yeah. I think there’s two levels of this. One is 

building quantum systems in the U.S. So there’s just a nascent industry there, both as Chris and I are involved in building a system. 

But there’s also having U.S. companies be early adopters in 

leveraging it. So they as U.S. companies get the economic benefit 

and competitive advantage of leveraging these technologies earlier. 

And both of those things rely on skill development in this country, 

fundamentally. If we don’t develop the skills, we will not be able 

to execute on them. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Okay. Dr. Guha? 

Dr. GUHA. I think the point I would like to make to add to my 

colleagues here is that, you know, we need to double up this set 

of skills because there are, most likely, as yet unknown new industries that can be jumpstarted from the science that would come out 

of this, in addition to, you know, to the benefits we would have in 

leading areas of cryptography or materials design. 

So it would be extremely important to be able to have strong 

educational, fundamental scientific base in the quantum information sciences in the U.S. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Okay. Thank you. And I did want to 

take this opportunity now, since we have a staffer here, Sarah Jorgenson. This is her last hearing because she’s moving to another 

committee and leaving us. So, I did want to thank her for all of 

her great work, and you got a really exciting, interesting hearing 

for your last hearing. Thank you for your leadership on the committee, and we look forward to many great things from you. 

I’ll now yield to Mr. Lipinski. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. Thank you. I thank all the witnesses for their testimony. In Dr. Monroe’s testimony, he presents the idea of establishing a new quantum engineering degree programs at universities as a component of the National Quantum Initiative. And Dr. 

Guha, I know that the University of Chicago has already established one of the first quantum engineering degree programs. 
126 

So Dr. Guha, could you describe the program at UC? Is there any 

advice you’d give to other universities interested in launching their 

own programs such as this? 

Dr. GUHA. Thank you. So, the Chicago Quantum Exchange was 

formed very recently out of an organic need to connect industry, 

university, and the National Laboratories together. We believe that 

the future of education, particularly in the quantum information 

sciences, lies in establishing multidisciplinarity and the ability to 

connect academia and industry together in order to make progress 

in an important area such as this. 

So the Chicago Quantum Exchange has been formed by the University of Chicago, as I mentioned, along with Argonne National 

Labs and Fermi Labs. Students will work with staff scientists in 

the government labs as well as with academia. We have recently 

received some funding from the National Science Foundation, along 

with Harvard, in order to be able to have students, graduate students have tandem advisors, one from industry, one from academia, 

to push forward with this concept that we really need to start pulling industry and academia and government labs together. This 

really needs to happen if we want to be able to translate basic 

science eventually into applicable technology. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. In the degree program itself, is there anything that 

you would—advice to give other universities interested in launching their own such programs that perhaps if they don’t have the 

access to a National Lab like Argonne that UC has? 

Dr. GUHA. I think that the access to the National Labs that UC 

has is a huge advantage. We’ve seen that it helps us attract students, for instance, because these labs have capabilities that are 

unmatched at universities. 

The other part that we focused for the Ph.D. program is, as I 

mentioned, in pushing forward multidisciplinarity, connecting with 

computer science. If you look at the faculty at the University of 

Chicago involved in quantum information sciences, they come from 

a variety of backgrounds, from physics. My own background is in 

metallurgical engineering to computer science, nanosciences, nanotechnology, I’ve worked in these areas over the past decade, has 

improved the interdisciplinarity of the field. But this takes it one 

step further so the educational content, we try to reflect that. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. I know, Dr. Monroe, you’re proposing the National 

Quantum Initiative. It includes the development in support of four 

very well-funded quantum innovation labs. I think this is—is this 

something similar to—do you see these as being similar to the Chicago Quantum Exchange, that concept? 

Dr. MONROE. I would say to back up a little bit. At my institute, 

at the University of Maryland, we probably have the largest cadre 

of academic and government researchers in quantum sciences in 

one place, including NIST, LPS which is part of NSA, and the university. We have a computer science center, a quantum science center, and an engineering center is on the way. 

But I applaud the efforts at Chicago which is obviously well-situated with Fermi and Argonne Labs in the back yard. And for this 

National Quantum Initiative, I think we need to have a critical 

mass of people from different disciplines. It’s absolutely critical. 

Whenever you use your iPhone, you don’t know or understand 
127 

what’s inside, and that’s why it’s useful. We need people to program the higher levels of these devices, and they will not be knowledgeable about every little piece. You just can’t. I think I made an 

analogy to the aircraft engineering. I don’t think there’s a single 

person that understands every piece of an F–35. It’s too big and 

complex. A large quantum computer is not as yet complex as that, 

but it’s approaching that. When it gets big, it will be. And so we’re 

going to have to. It’s required that this field—and I think I’m echoing everything all the witnesses are saying—that we have people 

from a variety of fields, including engineering, computer science, 

physics, all the physical sciences, chemistry, information theory, 

mathematics. 

Mr. LIPINSKI. Okay. Thank you. My time is up so I yield back. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. I now recognize Mr. Lucas forfive minutes. 

Mr. LUCAS. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Dr. Crowder, in 

your testimony you conclude that federal grants in support of core 

quantum research and development are being eclipsed by other 

governments. Can you expand on that for a moment? 

Dr. CROWDER. Sure. I mean, the United States has put a lot of 

investment into quantum information science. But if you just look 

at the estimates that folks like McKenzie have done and just look 

at the announcements recently by China and by other countries, 

they are investing more heavily than we are. 

I think it’s really important, again, from an industry perspective, 

especially a multi-national company like IBM that has a view of 

more than just the United States, that we continue to do the basic 

research for two reasons, one, because of what my colleagues here 

have stated in terms of just pushing the technology forward but 

also really to build the skills that are going to be necessary for 

commercialization. I mentioned it before. There are three types of 

skills that we see gaps in. Some of them I would say, like FPGA 

programming or more traditional skills, that maybe are mid-career 

we can train people to go into. 

But quantum information science requires pretty in-depth graduate-level work, and if we do not continue to fund basic research 

at the graduate and post-doctorate level in this country, we just 

won’t have the skills. 

Mr. LUCAS. To continue with that line of thought, and whether 

it’s specific areas of research that are being outpaced in or areas 

where we should be engaged, that would be vital to our dominance, 

at the pace we’re at right now, looking at what the rest of the 

world is doing based on the information available to you, at what 

point do we get behind the curve that we can’t catch up if we don’t 

make those investments? Because certainly there comes a point. If 

you get far enough out, ahead of the rest of the world, then you 

can’t catch up. 

Dr. CROWDER. Yeah, as other people have said, I do think we’re 

at a couple inflection points here. We’re at the stage now where 

quantum computing is becoming real. I mean, we put a real quantum computer, albeit small one, on the Internet last May, May 

2016, and it’s been up and running since then and we’ve, you know, 

grown that from 5 qubits to 16 qubits, and we’ve announced that 
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this year we’re building slightly more powerful quantum computers 

for, you know, commercial availability. 

So I think we’re at a very interesting inflection point in this technology. If we don’t make the investments in both the underlying 

skills and also as other people have mentioned, the technology of 

people learning how to use these systems, we will, from an American point of view, fall behind. I can’t give you an exact date, but 

the trajectory isn’t sufficient. 

Mr. LUCAS. Dr. Monroe, along that similar line, when it comes 

to research and infrastructure involving light sources or neutron 

sources, follow up if you would for a moment, expand a bit on how 

we’re faring in that international competition, real or imaginary. 

Dr. MONROE. As you’ve heard today, there are a variety of technologies that are behind successful quantum device, and these are 

technologies that are themselves maybe not necessarily quantum. 

I think Dr. Williams mentioned the idea of purifying isotopes of silicon and make it ultra-pure, and through some of our DOE labs, 

we are world leaders in that area. I think we have a proud history 

of leading device fabrication in silicon which will play a role in almost every quantum technology, even if it’s not based in the bulk 

of silicon. For instance, in my technology, we use silicon electrodes 

that are pretty far away, but they need to be machined to be just 

beautiful. And this happens at Sandia National Laboratory, a DOE 

laboratory, and no place in the world can really compete at that 

point. I think the fact that we have many big corporations, IBM, 

Google, Intel, Microsoft, playing in this field is really the strength 

we have. And to me, it’s really a workforce issue. And I think other 

countries, from what I see, they can organize in a top-down way 

because often the industry is their country. They’re very linked 

that way. And in a sense, there are coordinations that can happen 

that are very fast in some places, particularly China. And I see in 

the U.S., our system is not or maybe it shouldn’t be like that, but 

the government can play a role I think to better bring together academic research in this field, pure science, the devices, the manufacturing, and the workforce that will be at industry. 

Mr. LUCAS. Thank you, Doctor. I yield back, Madam Chair. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. I now recognize Mr. Veasey for five 

minutes. 

Mr. VEASEY. Thank you, Madam Chair. I wanted to ask Dr. 

Guha about collaboration and was wondering if you could describe 

how the private sector partners with National Laboratories on 

quantum-based technologies and how has this relationship changed 

as the investments in quantum information science, both public 

and private, have increased in recent years? 

Dr. GUHA. So there is collaboration between the private sector 

and the public sector in, you know, areas related to quantum information sciences through the large user facilities, for instance, the 

light sources. Companies like IBM have used our light sources at 

Argonne. This is just one example. Also through the nanoscience 

facilities, the NSRCs. That’s another channel through which this 

is—these are also—there are five such user facilities across the 

U.S. distributed in the DOE labs. And that’s another avenue where 

we collaborate with industry because the Nanoscience Research 
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Centers possess state-of-the-art capabilities for manipulation of 

atoms and structures at the nanoscale. 

There have been good examples in areas such as battery development, for instance, at Argonne again to give you an example where 

cathode materials have been developed through basic energy 

science’s funding at Argonne, then through ERE funding, and now 

these are in major hybrid cars that are sold in the U.S. and worldwide. 

So there certainly is a structure and a system for this type of 

public-private collaboration. And I think this would only increase 

as we go forward and put more emphasis on quantum information 

sciences. 

Mr. VEASEY. Thank you very much. I also want to ask you about 

the Department of Energy. As you know, it’s home to many scientific user facilities that focus on the fundamental sciences that 

underpins quantum technologies. How are users taking advantage 

of the facilities stewarded by the DOE Office of Science to advance 

our understanding of quantum information science? 

Dr. GUHA. So that’s a good question. I’ll give you another example. For instance, if we go back to the nanoscience research facilities, some of the tools that we are starting to build and starting 

to equip ourselves with are tools that can deal with single photon 

measurements to measure correlations between different single 

photon emitters. So these are tools that basically now start enabling you to figure out how to create and manipulate single quanta 

of information and try to look at the entanglement between them, 

which is sort of at the heart of quantum information sciences. 

So we are beginning to start getting these tools on line and pulling in users, initially from academia and then from the industry as 

well hopefully as we go forward. So these are things that are beginning to happen. 

Mr. VEASEY. Thank you. Thank you very much. Madam Chair, 

I yield back my time. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. I now recognize Ms. Bonamici for five 

minutes. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Thank you very much, Chair Comstock. Thank 

you to each of the witnesses. Dr. Monroe, you talk in your testimony about the challenges of transition from research to marketplace, and that’s an issue that we’ve discussed many times on this 

committee, commercialization of research, and you mention workforce challenges and dealing with small companies where there are 

not yet high-volume applications and the lack of expertise. So 

that’s what you mentioned. Are there policy barriers that we as 

Congress could address? Are there barriers through policy changes 

that we could work on? 

Dr. MONROE. Thank you for the question. The one I would bring 

up—and again, I’m opening a can of worms. It’s intellectual property laws, and I think my colleague, Dr. Williams from NIST, 

brought this up. And in my view, to get full engagement of industry, they have to be able to protect their own IP, their own interests in the long run, but they also—I think the reason it could 

work, having an innovation lab, quantum innovation lab, is that 

these big industry players, they understand that they’re going to 
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get people. They’re going to get qualified people that can go back 

home and then build devices that can be commercial. 

So again, I don’t know the answer to it. I’m probably not the expert here with regard to IP law. But somehow, to dangle that carrot in front of industry to have their engineers embedded. I will 

note, by the way, that Intel has an arrangement with the University of Delft in the Netherlands where they do exactly this. And I 

don’t know exactly how this works with regard to IP, but they have 

embedded engineers that are building silicon devices at Delft. And 

the researchers there, the academics, they’re reaping the benefits 

of having professionals in place that really know this stuff. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Terrific. We can look at that model and also work 

with our colleagues on the Judiciary Committee on the IP issues. 

And Dr. Monroe, to follow up your National Quantum Initiative, 

the way I understand it, you’re really talking about four well-funded quantum innovation labs. So I wanted to ask, in that type of 

model, is there a way that we could address—you know, some of 

the breakthroughs have come from unexpected places. How would 

that model be able to work with, for example, the bright faculty 

and students at lesser-known colleges and universities or the small 

businesses that are not in the vicinity of one of those innovation 

labs? What would be the plan to be more broad-reaching than just 

having the four innovation labs? 

Dr. MONROE. Well, I think it would require full engagement of 

relevant agencies, and I think the science agencies that were in the 

previous round of witnesses, DOE, NIST, and NSF, are natural to 

play a huge role in making these hubs happen. And NSF in particular, they deal with blue skies research. They deal with small 

colleges. They’re very good at bringing big science, cutting-edge 

science, down to even undergraduate institutions. So I think having 

their engagement will be important. 

And I might add, one federal vehicle that also works very well 

with industry is the SBIR and STTR programs. These are—— 

Ms. BONAMICI. Right. 

Dr. MONROE. —grant programs, largely from the DOD, that can 

go into industry for more researchy type things. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Terrific. And for all the panelists, the title of this 

hearing is of course about American leadership. And I know it’s 

been addressed and the Chair brought it up and others have as 

well. 

Dr. Monroe, you just mentioned the Intel partnership with Delft. 

Are there, among the panel there, other examples where we could 

look at either models, work that’s being done in other countries? 

Where are we seeing leadership efforts that we could either replicate or that we should take note of? Dr. Crowder? 

Dr. CROWDER. Yeah. I think one of the things that you see in Europe especially is research institutions deeply partnering with industry participants to provide them with access to quantum technologies. That’s one of the things we haven’t talked about too much 

on this panel is not just the underlying quantum technology itself 

but the algorithms and use cases that you need to develop for that. 

And you see things going on in the UK, in Oxford, things going on 

in Germany and some of the research institutions there that I 

think are really best practices, where they’re—I can certainly see 
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a place like Oakridge expanding their test beds to do very similar 

things to, you know, open up access through their user facilities to 

these new technologies. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Thank you. In my remaining few seconds, Dr. 

Guha or Dr. Monroe, do you want to add to that? 

Dr. GUHA. I think I’d just like to add one more point to what Dr. 

Crowder said which is that, you know, if you look at China and the 

funding they are investing, they’re putting it in focused centers. 

And I think there’s some benefit to that. And I think we should 

think about that as well. 

If you look at the European funding, it’s going more distributed. 

And I feel that the focused approach, you know, this is something 

we ought to look at carefully. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Thank you. And as I yield back, Madam Chair, 

I just want to point out in follow up to the prior panel that in 

South China, the South China Morning Post, they just had an article about their new STEAM school. And a recent study in Korea 

found that STEAM is a highly effective teaching and learning 

method. 

So as I yield back, I’ll point that out to you, Madam Chair, and 

thank our colleagues. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you. 

Ms. BONAMICI. Thank you. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. And I now recognize Representative 

Tonko for five minutes. 

Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Madam Chair. Quantum information 

science is a rapidly growing field with public and private investments growing across the world. Just how does the United States 

stack up against international competitors in this field? Who’s leading the race in developing the next generation of what may well be 

revolutionary technologies? 

Dr. MONROE. Thank you for the question. I might begin on academic side in that by its nature, academic science is international, 

and there are many great collaborations. I have some in Europe 

and so forth. And I would say academically, the science behind QIS 

is proceeding most rapidly in the U.S. still. China is not far behind 

and the same can be said for the EU. I think they’re all 

powerhouses in this field. 

In terms of the technology development, this is where the U.S. 

is ahead for now, and I think it’s largely driven by industry. We 

have the industry that the others are struggling to come up with. 

But I think where China and the EU have an interesting advantage is just how they can make top-down things happen, and it’s 

just the nature of the beast. 

We keep returning to China. This is a very capital-intensive field 

to get this exotic hardware to engineer. It does take a large amount 

of investments, and I think that China, without the bat of an eye, 

can just do it. 

So this is something I look in the future as maybe an early warning sign that, you know, now is the time to get a head of the curve 

on that. 

Mr. TONKO. Certainly now is not the time to cut into some of 

these investments, as we’ve heard? 

Dr. MONROE. Yes, I agree with that. 
132 

Mr. TONKO. Okay. Do our other doctors have any comments in 

that regard? 

Dr. GUHA. So I agree with Dr. Monroe that the U.S. is leading 

the race, but the next few years are going to be very interesting, 

particularly with respect to China. There’s two things to note. One, 

the results on their satellite link that I think is an engineering 

tour de force. This type of link was first, you know, demonstrated 

via a DARPA project in 2003 between Boston University and Harvard and a private company, if I remember correctly. But the fact 

that they’re able to do this via satellite is a big deal, and we should 

take notice of this. And the second is the hiring that’s going on in 

China in the quantum area, in hiring Ph.D. scientists putting huge 

amounts of investments in starting up labs. 

So we really need to take note of this. In the next few years, you 

know, China has I believe made the decision that they want to 

wrap up in this area, although the U.S. clearly has the superiority 

today. 

Mr. TONKO. Um-hum. And Dr. Crowder? 

Dr. CROWDER. I think my colleagues have said it well. I mean, 

I think American industry clearly has leadership in this space. I 

think from an academic point of view the United States, our academic institutions are clear leaders in this space, although in academics and skill development I will say that there is a lot of good 

work going on worldwide. So there’s a lot of skill development happening in Europe, in Canada, and Australia and Japan, as well as 

in China. 

Mr. TONKO. And what would you suggest we need to prioritize 

in order to secure our competitive edge here in this critical field? 

You talked about us, you know, holding onto maybe a leading status. But what’s most critical for us to do to maintain that or grow 

it? 

Dr. CROWDER. So I think there’s two levels here, one, which I 

touched on before which is we need the skill development from a 

U.S. economy point of view. I think we do have industry leadership 

in actually building these systems and the technology behind it, 

but I do think we need to continue to invest highly in skill development which means investments and basic research. And then the 

second is we need to make these systems available to U.S. researchers and to U.S. companies. The algorithm development we 

haven’t really touched on her, but there’s a lot of possibilities for 

quantum. But until someone develops the algorithms, those possibilities will not be turned into real business value. There’s a lot of 

work that needs to get done in algorithm development. 

Mr. TONKO. Dr. Monroe? 

Dr. MONROE. Yeah, thanks for the question. I might add to that 

that it’s a precarious situation for industry or a company to be in 

a game where they’re building a device where we don’t actually 

know exactly what it’s going to be used for. This is exactly what 

happened with conventional computing back in the ’50s. It was 

built for certain purposes but nobody envisioned packing billions of 

transistors on a watch or an iPhone. 

Dr. Kurose in the last session mentioned that quantum computing is not a panacea. It’s not going to solve every type of problem, but we need to get these devices out there to users, for users 
133 

to solve the problem. That may be a difficult argument to make to 

stockholders in a big company. So that’s where I think there is 

some vulnerability. 

Mr. TONKO. Dr. Guha, did you—— 

Dr. GUHA. I will simply add that, you know, we need to make 

sure that we continue to have superiority in the basic underlying 

science behind this field. That’s absolutely important. And we 

should probably set some goals and targets, you know, ten-year 

goals, 15-year goals, and sort of pull the science along through 

those targets. 

Mr. TONKO. Thank you. I yield back, Madam Chair. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you. And I now recognize Mr. 

Foster for five minutes. 

Mr. FOSTER. Thank you, Madam Chair. First, before I go into 

policy discussions, Dr. Guha, a question about your previous existence. What is the current state of the art for thinox dielectrics 

versus high-k dielectrics, just in terms of the number of atomic layers? 

Dr. GUHA. So the electronic equivalent number of atomic layers 

is something on the order of, you know, seven angstroms or something, less than a nanometer. It’s the electronic equivalent. Physically it’s a little thicker but that’s what you gain from using a high 

dielectric constant material. 

Mr. FOSTER. Yeah. This has evolved so much since I was designing ICs back in the 1990s. It’s amazing what has been accomplished. And I guess there’s no clear example of Moore’s Law hitting the fence than just the thickness of, you know, the dielectric 

barriers and mosfets. 

Anyway, now back to the policy stuff, you’ve touched on a lot of 

issues I was thinking of bringing up having to do with what is the 

right development model for something like this that requires a 

long-term investment? I mean, the whole business was jump started by the discovery in principle I believe at Bell Labs that you 

could actually in principle, theoretically, factor large primes with 

quantum computing and thereby blow up, you know, the then-current cryptography, which had huge implications. 

So the problem there is Bell Labs is gone, right? And they’re 

gone because they existed only because we basically socialized that 

piece of research that we provided Bell Labs with a monopoly on 

long distance that provided an income stream to develop a really 

a wonderful natural resource that only existed because, you know, 

we gave them a special monopoly. You know, it’s a peculiar way to 

have socialized research. The national labs are really the only, you 

know, socialized research that we actually have in this country, 

and it’s unique and I think it’s necessary for long-term and speculative developments. You simply can’t, as you say, sell the stockholders on this. 

One of the biggest things that I worry about all the time is intellectual property. You know, this is a huge problem. It’s sort of an 

interesting policy debate because it doesn’t—it’s something that’s 

not really a moral argument. It’s an argument on how you maximize economic and technological progress. 

And so are there things that you think are really—you know, if 

you could have two or three fixes in intellectual property, what 
134 

would they be? You know, for example, many countries don’t allow 

algorithms to be patented, computer algorithms to be patented. 

And that’s something that’s gone back and forth in this country. So 

how does intellectual property play into the development of, say, 

quantum algorithms on this? Does our current policy encourage it 

or discourage it? 

Dr. MONROE. Yeah, I will say that in my experience in small 

business, we’re told by our investors you have to get an IP portfolio. And it’s almost irrational. I guess as a scientist I find it as 

a little bit of a nuisance, but I do understand the importance of it 

because if you don’t have it, you will be playing defense against 

somebody who is just sitting on intellectual property. 

So I would not be against tightening different facets of what can 

be patented or not, mathematic equations—— 

Mr. FOSTER. As expanding—but saying, you know, if you could 

patent quantum algorithms for example, you know, would that increase or decrease the amount of interest and the rate of development of these? 

Dr. MONROE. My gut feeling is it would decrease. I think it’s such 

an early stage right now that it will maybe scare away others and 

impede progress in the field. 

Mr. FOSTER. Yeah, that would be interesting to talk to, you 

know, venture capitalists to see if they agree with the same thing 

because it’s a—now, in addition, Dr. Guha touched on the question 

of whether we centralize or disperse, you know, the centers of excellence. Do we have centers of excellence or do we do, you know, 

the European model of spreading the technology to a zillion institutions? You know, the obvious—if you see what industry does for 

things like biotechnology, they just have a very strong clumping effect that occurs naturally, not so much because of the intrinsic 

merits of where they decide to clump but simply because of the network effects of having a bunch of people nearby that you can, you 

know, steal employees from each other as you expand and contract. 

And so, you know, is this something that we should be fighting 

against or should we, you know, in the European way of trying to 

spread out the research or should we just say, okay, we’re going to 

have a clump of this, you know, for example, in the Illinois 11th 

District would be a fine place? But you know, what are your 

thoughts on that? And I will skip Dr. Guha which I presume would 

conclude, would agree with me here. 

Dr. CROWDER. Yeah, I think there’s two competing forces here. 

I definitely think that having centers of excellence and concentrating, especially for topical areas, makes a whole lot of sense 

from a resource point of view. 

On the flipside, when I talk to companies about their plans to leverage this, they have the same skill issues that other people have. 

And what they want is to partner with a local university to do the 

early research and then so they have someone to hire in two years 

when this becomes large. 

So I do think we need to balance it. I do think there’s advantages 

of having centers of excellence, especially from an access point of 

view. It doesn’t necessarily make sense for everybody to have a 

user facility for, you know, quantum computing. You should have, 

you know, a couple user facilities that, you know, other people can 
135 

get access—other academic institutions can access from. Similarly, 

I think you need centers of excellence in particular areas so you 

have a critical mass. But I do think you need regional participation 

and the academics behind this because you will have companies 

that need to get skills from regional areas. 

Dr. MONROE. Do I have time to add one thing? As a high-energy 

physicist, you certainly appreciate that CERN and Fermi Lab are 

these big naturally clumping things. You’re studying one problem, 

and it takes a thousand people to do that. 

Quantum computing is not that. I think there are many different 

technologies. They’re wildly different, and I think these innovation 

hubs can maybe specialize in one at a time at each hub, for instance, that’s one model. I think it is clumping, not as much as 

high-energy physics, but I think we would find a few areas of specialization. One might be more devoted on software, a computer 

side of things where they don’t care about the hardware, and the 

others will develop particular hardwares. 

Mr. FOSTER. Fascinating. Let’s see. Do any of you know roughly 

how many, you know, say photonics Ph.D.s come out of China 

every year compared to the U.S.? Do you have a feeling for that 

or just overall? Ph.D.s with relevant skills. 

Dr. MONROE. I think they probably beat us on that. I actually 

don’t know the numbers. I shouldn’t speculate. 

Mr. FOSTER. Okay. I remembered—— 

Dr. MONROE. There’s a lot. There’s a lot. 

Mr. FOSTER. —seeing a very, in some sub-specialties, at least a 

very high ratio, and you know, that’s a problem. Because the workforce development is huge, and I think it’s—anyway, I just want to 

thank you all for bringing this, attending this very important hearing, and thank the Chair for holding the hearing. 

Chairwoman COMSTOCK. Thank you. And I thank this panel of 

witnesses also for their testimony and expertise. As you can tell, 

the members were very interested in this topic, and obviously it’s 

a very competitive area where we appreciate all of your insight. I 

think it will need to be a continuing conversation on how we can 

continue to be the leaders and remain competitive and the kind of 

workforce that we’re going to need. I think there’ll be a lot more 

questions to ask and issues to develop along this way. 

So the record will remain open for two weeks for additional written comments and questions from the members. And the hearing 

is now adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:48 p.m., the Subcommittees were adjourned.] 

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