>30

Full-time staff

20+

Years of programmatic

QIS research

200+ 

Users in Quantum

Computing User

Program

113

Publications 

in 2022

OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) stands poised to lead the way to the 

quantum future.

With diverse capabilities to support materials synthesis, fabrication, and characterization, 

ORNL researchers are exploring new approaches to storing, measuring, and transferring 

information via four primary capabilities: quantum computing, quantum materials, 

quantum networking, and quantum sensing.

This effort requires multidisciplinary teams capable of

• synthesizing, characterizing, and measuring properties of quantum materials; 

• developing sensing techniques to reduce quantum noise; and 

• designing quantum algorithms for use on quantum devices aimed at tackling 

challenges of importance to the US Department of Energy.

Computing 

Computing serves an important role in scientific discovery and innovation, and quantum 

computers are expected to accelerate these capabilities well beyond today’s leading 

systems. The lLaboratory’s quantum computing effort is leveraging partnerships with 

academia, industry, and government to accelerate breakthroughs across the quantum 

computing spectrum.

“ORNL’s diverse quantum expertise makes it the ideal 

institution to lead the next quantum revolution.”

 —Quantum Information Science Section Head and Distinguished R&D Staff Nick Peters

Optical tables and ion 

trap chamber in an ORNL 

quantum laboratory. 

Breakthroughs in Quantum Computing, 

Materials, Networking, and Sensing

Advances in computing, sensing, and networking technologies have defined the last half-century of technological progress. An enhanced 

understanding of the laws of quantum mechanics is now enabling a quantum revolution that promises to transform a vast range of 

technologies critical to American competitiveness.
By investigating promising quantum hardware architectures and software applications via experiment, theory, and simulation, ORNL researchers 

are enabling new paradigms of information processing. This effort requires multidisciplinary teams of computer scientists, physicists, and 

engineers working in concert to advance the field. In partnership with the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, the Laboratory’s Quantum 

Computing Institute hosts the Quantum Computing User Program to provide early access to existing commercial quantum computing systems 

while supporting the development of future quantum programmers through educational outreach and internship programs.

Materials 

Materials have always dictated the progression of technology, and a new generation of quantum materials may well usher in the next great era 

of innovation. To accelerate discovery and predictive understanding of these materials, researchers leverage Laboratory leadership in high-performance computing, neutron scattering, condensed matter sciences, and data analytics. These capabilities, along with specialized facilities, 

strategic internal investments, and decades of experience exploring quantum materials, are enabling lab staff to explore a range of candidates, 

from graphene to quantum spin liquids, across a range of applications.

Networking 

Quantum networks are capable of connecting resources across distance scales, from nearest-neighbor interactions between microscopic qubits 

to far-off satellite transmissions. The Laboratory’s scientists and engineers are leaders in the development of quantum networking technologies, 

including quantum communication, quantum key distribution, and quantum repeaters.

Through ORNL’s quantum-based cybersecurity research, Laboratory’s staff have established a robust portfolio of more than a dozen quantum 

networking–related inventions that are available for either research or commercial license. In particular, ORNL has state-of-the-art laboratories 

with the following resources:

• Entangled photon sources 

• Quantum key distribution 

• Superconducting single-photon detectors 

• Homodyne single-photon detectors 

• Telecom quantum frequency processing and conversion 

• Local dark-fiber network test bed for quantum 

communications experiments 

• Quantum random number generators

Sensing

Characterizing quantum technologies requires exquisite control and advanced 

sensing techniques. ORNL researchers are using their expertise in quantum information and sensing to gain improvements over classical sensors and optimize a new class of

quantum sensors. The Laboratory has dedicated research staff tasked with reducing quantum

noise and controlling and correcting errors inherent in quantum systems, both of which

are critical to advancing a range of quantum technologies, from computing to information

transfer to imaging.

Sensing techniques developed in ORNL’s state-of-the-art quantum optics labs have 

found applications in improving measurements in ORNL’s other facilities, including 

the Institute for Functional Imaging of Materials and the Center for Nanophase 

Materials Sciences.

www.ornl.gov

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle LLC for the US Department of Energy January 2023

CONTACT:

Nick Peters

Section Head

Quantum Information

Science Section

petersn@ornl.gov

865-876-3386

One Bethel Valley Road 

Oak Ridge, TN 37831

A dilution refrigerator run 

by the Quantum Information 

Science group. This 

refrigerator operates at a base 

temperature of roughly 

10 mK and includes optical and 

scanning probe microscope 

heads for material and 

device characterization at 

low temperatures.