Quantum Science at

The Joint Quantum Institute

The Premier Institute for Quantum Science & Technology in the US

Dr. Gretchen Campbell

Co-Director Joint Quantum Institute

National Institute of Standards and 

Technology
Scientific Mission

• Coherent Quantum Phenomena

– Intersection of Condensed Matter, 

AMO, and Quantum Information

• Understand Quantum Mechanics

in the context of information 

science

• Exploit Quantum Mechanics for 

new technologies

Quantum 

Measurement 

and 

Control

Quantum

Information 

and 

computing

Many-body 

physics
JQI Areas of Research

• Quantum Information Science including:

– Q. Communication (QKD, single photon 

technologies, ...)

– Q. Information and Q. Algorithms

– Q. Computing

– Q. Sensors and Q. Based Measurements

• Other Coherent Quantum Phenomena

– Q. Materials and Q. Matter (topological 

insulators)

– Q. Phase Transitions and Phase Diagrams

– Cold Atom Collisions

– Condensed Matter Theory (nonequilibrium 

dynamics of open systems)

– ...

Quantum 

Measurement 

and 

Control

Quantum

Information 

and 

computing

Many-body 

physics
JQI Overview

Established in 2006 as a Joint Institute of NIST and the University of 

Maryland

31 Principal Investigators

• 13 NIST, 17 UMD, and 1 LPS

• Theory/Experiment

~180 postdoctoral & graduate researchers

• ~40 graduate students work for NIST fellows

• ~15 PhDs per year

Leading Center for Quantum Science

Physical Science Complex,

College Park, Md

Students and post-docs go to:

Honeywell, Intel, Northrop-Grumman, IBM, 

Microsoft, Google, AOSense, IonQ, Booz-AllenHamilton...
JQI Publication Statistics

Citations:

Total: (1621; 199 in 2017):

h-index=94, 

45203 total cites, avg.=28

QIS articles (722; 107 in 2017):

h-index=73, 

27042 total cites, avg.=37

QC articles (430; 74 in 2017):

h-index=54, 15412 total cites, avg.=36

Publications:

~ 200 papers in 2017

Over 1500 papers since 2011
QUICS overview

Established in 2014 as a Joint Institute of NIST and the University of 

Maryland

13 Principal Investigators

• 6 NIST, 6 UMD, and 1 NSA

20-30 postdoctoral & graduate researchers

Goal to become a leading center for quantum 

information in computer science

Physical Science Complex,

College Park, Md
Quantum 

Measurement 

and 

Control

Hybrid 

devices

Photonics

Engineered 

ultracold

gases

Ion 

crystals

Many-body 

physics

Exotic and 

designer 

materials

Strongly 

interacting 

photons 

and atoms

Engineered 

ultracold

gases

Ion 

crystals

Research Directions

Quantum

Information 

and 

computing

Superconducting 

devices

Topological 

qubits

Understanding 

and using 

entanglement

Atomic 

ion 

qubits
Development of “Quantum” Hardware

# particles

control &

configurability

molecules

trapped 

ions

Verification?

• quantum materials by design

• complex optimization 

• “big quantum data”

• quantum computing

gated

Q-dots

superconductors

neutral

atoms

NV

Q-dots
~40 μm

Reduced dimensionality or 

topological constraints can 

give rise to different 

collective phenomena such 

as:

Interesting effects in 

toroidal traps:

•Superfluidity

•Superflow

Ultracold atom “circuits”

BEC in toroidal trap

Engineered 

ultracold

gases
~40 μm

•Superfluidity

•Superflow

•Atomtronic circuits

•SQUID analog (Josephson 

junction)

• Interferometry/Quantum 

Sensors

BEC in toroidal trap

BEC in toroidal trap 

with barrier

Interesting effects in 

toroidal traps:

Reduced dimensionality or 

topological constraints can 

give rise to different 

collective phenomena such 

as:

Engineered 

ultracold

gases

Chris Lobb

Ultracold atom “circuits”
~40 μm

•Superfluidity

•Superflow

•Atomtronic circuits

•SQUID analog (Josephson 

junction)

• Interferometry/Quantum 

Sensors

•Cosmological Physics??

BEC in toroidal trap 

with barrier

Interesting effects in 

toroidal traps:

Reduced dimensionality or 

topological constraints can 

give rise to different 

collective phenomena such 

as: BEC in toroidal trap

Ultracold atom “circuits”

Engineered 

ultracold

gases
Cosmology in the Lab?

Can we learn something about this ....

Ian Spielman Ted Jacobson

Engineered 

ultracold

gases S. Eckel, et.al., Phys. Rev. X 8, 021021 (2018)
Both systems experience:

Particle Creation

Redshift

Horizons?

S. Eckel, et.al., Phys. Rev. X 8, 021021 (2018)

Cosmology in the Lab?

Engineered 

ultracold

gases
JQI Connectivity from publications, April 2017
Research Highlights:

Photonic Chip Guides Single Photons, Even 

when there are bends in the Road:

Optical highways for light are at the heart 

of modern communications. But when it 

comes to guiding individual blips of light 

called photons, reliable transit is far less 

common. A collaboration of researchers 

from the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), led 

by JQI Fellows Mohammad Hafezi and Edo 

Waks, has created a photonic chip that 

both generates single photons, and steers 

them around.

Science 359, 666-668, 2018

Topological 

qubits
Research Highlights:

Quantum Simulators Wield Control 

over more than 50 Qubits

Two independent teams of scientists, 

including one from the Joint Quantum 

Institute, have used more than 50 

interacting atomic qubits to mimic 

magnetic quantum matter, blowing past 

the complexity of previous demonstrations.

Observation of a many-body dynamical 

phase transition with a 53-qubit quantum 

simulator; Nature 551, 601–604 (2017)

Atomic 

ion 

qubits
Research Highlights:

Neural Network Techniques that 

enable computers to learn can 

describe complex Quantum 

Systems:

Understanding 

and using 

entanglement

Researchers at the Joint Quantum 

Institute showed that certain neural 

networks—abstract webs that pass 

information from node to node like 

neurons in the brain—can succinctly 

describe wide swathes of quantum 

systems. The networks can efficiently 

represent quantum systems that harbor 

lots of entanglement. 

Quantum Entanglement in Neural 

Network States," Dong-Ling Deng, 

Xiaopeng Li, Das Sarma, Physical 

Review X, 7, (2017)
Research Highlights:

Neural Network Techniques that 

enable computers to learn can 

describe complex Quantum 

Systems:

Researchers at the Joint Quantum 

Institute showed that certain neural 

networks—abstract webs that pass 

information from node to node like 

neurons in the brain—can succinctly 

describe wide swathes of quantum 

systems. The networks can efficiently 

represent quantum systems that harbor 

lots of entanglement. 

Quantum Entanglement in Neural 

Network States," Dong-Ling Deng, 

Xiaopeng Li, Das Sarma, Physical 

Review X, 7, (2017)

Understanding 

and using 

entanglement More information and highlights are available 

from http://jqi.umd.edu