The Challenge

Multiple nations are vying for leadership in the emerging field 

of quantum information science (QIS), which uses non-intuitive 

physical laws that rule at very small scales (nanoscale) to engineer entirely new technologies. Quantum computers will rely on 

qubits, or quantum bits, which can store much more information 

than the bits of today’s transistor-based computers. With their 

expanded capabilities, quantum computers will make many of 

today’s encryption methods obsolete, while opening new possibilities in solving intractable computational challenges. The field 

is poised to create the measurement tools, standards, and sensors that define future innovative technologies and the primary 

drivers of national economies and security concerns.

What NIST Does

• Performs fundamental research in quantum science and 

related areas.

• Conducts applied research to create improved sensors at the 

highest levels of precision and for cheap, ubiquitous sensing 

of the environment.

• Investigates the power of quantum information and its 

application to computationally intractable problems and 

post-quantum cryptography.

Program Goals

• Demonstrate, characterize, and engineer robust small quantum systems for improved sensing and better and/or cheaper 

quantum standards for a variety of applications.

• Create, develop, and characterize robust and efficient technologies that allow different quantum systems to work together 

for quantum computing and communications applications.

• Develop tools for understanding, manipulating, controlling, 

(continued)

BY THE 

NUMBERS

4 Nobel 

Prizes

awarded to NIST 

employees in the 

past 18 years for 

“quantum science” 

225+

Quantum information papers 

published by NIST 

and Joint Quantum 

Institute scientists 

in 2013

100x

Performance

increase in NIST

atomic clocks 

during the past 

decade, thanks 

to quantum technology

£270 million

(approximately $421 million)

Amount the U.K. is investing 

during the next 5 years in 

quantum technologies

www.nist.gov

QUANTUM INFORMATION AT NIST
and measuring complex quantum systems to create the measurement science and scientific knowledge 

needed for future technologies and innovation, including the simulation of complex quantum systems 

that cannot be simulated with current technologies.

• Develop and explore quantum materials and solid-state qubits for future advanced quantum devices.

Recent Program Highlights

• In 2014, NIST established the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science (QuICS) at the University of Maryland, College Park, to explore the power of quantum information and its application to computationally intractable problems and post-quantum cryptography.

• Demonstrated a component for a flexible quantum simulator that could be scaled up and configured to model 

quantum systems of a complexity that overwhelms traditional computer simulations.

• Showed that it is possible to “push” part of a light beam past the speed of light, then showed that this effort 

would result in a loss of the quantum data the light carries.

New for 2016

NIST is requesting an additional $5 million to focus on:

• Accelerating widespread use of quantum science

- Creating capabilities needed for mass production of solid-state qubits

- Developing a roadmap for enabling business adoption of quantum science

• Supporting the development of next-generation quantum devices

- Advancing simulation capabilities of complex quantum systems

- Improving commercial single-photon detectors tenfold

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Dollars, in millions

FY 2016

Budget

FY 2015

21.6

26.6