NSF CAREER Award To Advance Scalable Quantum Computing
ECE Assistant Professor Aravind Nagulu was awarded a $500,000 NSF CAREER award for “Cryogenic-CMOS and Superconducting Circuits for Scalable Quantum Systems” to address limitations in the hardware infrastructure of quantum computing by developing energy-efficient, low-cost, and compact cryogenic chips that will enable scaling quantum systems to support thousands of qubits.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Kate Rix. Main photo: Aravind Nagulu, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering on Northeastern University’s Oakland campus. Photo by Ruby Wallau for Northeastern University
Northeastern researcher wins NSF award to cut costs and boost efficiency of quantum computing
Abstract Source: NSF
Chances are the phone in your pocket is smaller than the one you owned a few years ago. The same trend applies to other personal computers and electronic devices. However, modern semiconductor components are about as small as they can get, sparking growing interest in new computing modalities such as quantum computing.
“We are at the limit of miniaturizing standard technology,” says Aravind Nagulu, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern University.
While traditional computers use “bits” to store and process information, quantum computers rely on “qubits.”
“Generally speaking, if you add more resources to a digital computer, the benefits scale linearly,” Nagulu explains. “But in a quantum computer, if you do it the right way, the benefits scale exponentially as you add more qubits.” This makes it possible to conduct more powerful computations using fewer resources.
The quantum computing market was valued at more than $13 billion in 2022, Nagulu notes, and is projected to exceed $143 billion by 2032. This growth is expected to accelerate breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, cryptography, financial fraud detection, and energy research.
In Nagulu’s lab, graduate student researchers are focused on designing and fabricating the semiconductors that are foundational to the chips that store and process data. While traditional chips are made from silicon, qubits are made from trapped ions, photons or atoms. They are “feeble,” Nagulu says, and highly sensitive to noise.
And noise grows louder as temperatures go up, Nagulu says. Therefore, colder conditions improve qubit superconductivity.
By cold, he means really, really cold. Currently, the transmon qubits that his lab is focused on operate at 10 Kelvin—more than 400 degrees below zero. Nagulu’s lab is working to figure out a way to reduce that temperature to 4 Kelvin, about 50 Fahrenheit degrees colder.
Read full story at Northeastern Global News