Inaugural NASA Quantum Future Technologies Conference NASA Ames Research Center

NASA scientists joined the best quantum technology experts from academia, government and industry to identify new and exciting opportunities in space exploration, aeronautics, earth and space science where quantum technologies can have the greatest impact.

Conference topics included next-generation quantum experiments for measurements of time and distance, navigation, field sensing, and gravity wave detection; scalable quantum computing architectures and algorithms; quantum key distribution for practical secure transmission over long distances, including fiber channels, earth-satellite links, and space-based communications networks.

Collaborations forged from this conference led to our invited submission to NIAC, OCT and DARPA under QUINESS mandate to create the world's first global quantum teleportation network: Astronaut Development and Deployment of a Secure Space Communications Network, with colleagues Rupert Ursin, Colin Williams, Paolo Villoresi, and Vikram Sharma.

See also: World’s-first demonstration of Earth-to-space quantum teleportation

Conference Website
Live Videoconference Stream


Update February 3, 2012 | Videos and presentations are now online at the conference website.

With special thanks to Pete Worden and Gabe Durkin.

Quantum to Classical Crossover in Mechanical Systems Leiden 
Lorentz Center Workshop on the Quantum to Classical Crossover in Mechanical Systems 

In recent years there have been rapid developments in controlling micro- and nanometer-sized mechanical systems—to the point where quantum physics has become essential for understanding the dynamics of these systems. Quantized oscillations of mechanical resonators are now being discussed, and these have potential applications in the field of quantum information science.

New, fundamental tests of quantum mechanics—such as superpositions of states and entanglement between systems—are now within reach for macroscopic objects. These experimental possibilities provide new input to the discussion of how the classical world emerges from underlying quantum physics. A related question, whether quantum physics is needed to understand properties beyond those of the chemical reactions and molecular compositions of biological systems, will also be addressed. This Lorentz Center Workshop will bring together leading experimentalists and theorists in this field of research.

Workshop participants include Dirk Bouwmeester, Yaroslav Blanter, Herre van der Zant, Eva Weig, Markus Aspelmeyer, Hans Briegel, Andrew Cleland, Rosario Fazio, Philip Stamp, Wojciech Zurek, and many more.

I've recently been selected to train as a scientist-astronaut candidate for commercial suborbital and developing orbital flights with a newly-formed, nonprofit endeavor that counts NASA/ESA astronauts, astronaut trainers and instructors among its astronaut corps and its board of advisors. I'm honored to be selected for the program, and tremendously excited about the opportunity. This is just the start of a long and challenging journey!

The nascent field of commercial spaceflight—and the unique conditions afforded by space and microgravity environments—offer exciting new opportunities to conduct novel experiments in quantum entanglement, fundamental tests of spacetime, and large-scale quantum coherence. In pursuit of these goals, we have the opportunity to inspire our next generation of scientists, researchers and engineers. 

• Astronaut Scientists for Hire Open New Research Frontier in Space
• About the Astronauts: Christopher Altman  
• Quantum Astronaut: Facebook Page
• Virgin Galactic to fly scientists to space
• Spaceport America
• Bigelow Aerospace Partners with NASA, plans extension to International Space Station, Lunar Outposts

Quantum Experiments in Space and Microgravity

• NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: Innovative quantum technologies for microgravity fundamental physics and biological research
• Anton Zeilinger: Quantum Entanglement in Space

Extending coherence times in superconducting qubits Schoelkopf Lab | via Leo DiCarlo — In arXiv 1105.4652, Schoelkopf et al  report novel implementation of a superconducting transmon qubit strongly coupled to a 5-cm, three-dimensional superconducting cavity, attaining reproducible extension in coherence times of both qubit (T₁ and T₂ > 10 μs) and cavity (T_cav ∼ 50 μs) by more than an order of magnitude compared to the current state-of-the-art superconducting qubits. "This enables the study of the stability and quality of Josephson junctions at precisions exceeding one part per million. Surprisingly, we see no evidence for 1/ f critical current noise. At elevated temperatures, we observe dissipation due to a small density (< 1 − 10 ppm) of thermally excited quasiparticles. These results suggest that the overall quality of Josephson junctions will allow for error rates of 10⁻⁴, approaching the error correction threshold to meet the DiVincenzo criteria for universal quantum computation. 





Time domain measurement of qubit coherence (a) Relaxation from |1⟩ of qubit J1. T1 is 60 μs for this measurement. (b) Ramsey fringes measured on resonance with (blue squares) and without (red squares) echo sequence. The pulse width for the π and π/2 pulses used in the experiments is 20 ns. An additional phase is added to the rotation axis of the second π/2 pulse for each delay to give the oscillatory feature to the Ramsey fringes.