Quantum made practical: U-M-led team advances in NSF center competition
The project aims to develop plug‑and‑play photonic chips that bring quantum‑light measurements out of the lab into field‑ready commercial devices.
Key takeaways
- Phase 2 adds $4M to the $1M pilot award, enabling the team to design connectable quantum photonic chips for field-ready, lab-grade measurements.
- If successful, the project will advance to phase 3, implementation, scaling into a $55M NSF quantum center to prototype field-deployable quantum photonic chips.
- Led by University of Michigan Engineering, the team includes partners at U.S. and international universities, industry, and government labs.
A University of Michigan Engineering-led team is a contender for a $55 million center charged with demonstrating quantum technologies that work in the real world.
With a $4 million Phase 2 award over two years, the team is focusing on light-driven chips to bring quantum precision to microelectronics as one of nine projects funded in the second phase of the National Science Foundation’s National Virtual Quantum Laboratory design competition.
The project, called Quantum Photonic Integration and Deployment, or QuPID, aims to build the first robust, plug-and-play quantum photonic chips, which harness the quantum nature of light to bring state-of-the-art quantum measurements out of the lab, and which operate from below infrared to deep ultraviolet. It includes leading industrial partners that give feedback on the feasibility of manufacturing these devices.
Guidestar applications for quantum photonic devices
To focus the effort, the team is targeting two applications: dead-reckoning (GPS-free) navigation with quantum precision, and a “camera” capable of monitoring quantum processes.
“Our guidestar use case is quantum navigation. We will design quantum chips that let users determine their position with extreme precision for far longer than classical devices, while being compact, affordable and rugged enough for everyday vehicles and future Mars missions,” said Mackillo Kira, U-M professor of electrical and computer engineering and principal investigator of the project.
Quantum navigation would be especially valuable in environments where GPS is unavailable, including underwater, deep space and on the Moon.
The second guidestar application is more laboratory-focused—the quantum “camera” for measuring the processes driving electronic devices and chemical reactions. It will rely on a combination of synced-up (coherent) waves, quantum entanglement and quintillionth-of-a-second (attosecond) measurement speed. At present, producing and observing any of these phenomena requires a room full of lab equipment.
The team plans to miniaturize these technologies with a suite of quantum components, envisioned as “Legos” to be combined for building different devices. Designing key components for quantum measurements is a primary goal for this phase.
“Integrated photonic components for quantum applications face significantly more stringent requirements than classical optical components, primarily due to the need for near-zero loss, high-fidelity manipulation and extreme stability. Furthermore, to deploy quantum technologies, these components must be integrated with high efficiencies,” said Parag Deotare, U-M associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and deputy director of the project.
Phase 1 successes: Squeezed light and quantum-friendly semiconductors
In the first phase of the project, the team explored the potential of a new semiconductor that could become the “silicon” of quantum photonics, known as scandium aluminum nitride (ScAlN)—a ferroelectric-III nitride. They found that it outperformed other quantum photonics materials while also being more versatile and easier to integrate with existing silicon-based microelectronics. This work was led by Zetian Mi, U-M professor of electrical engineering and computer science and a co-principal investigator. Its integration into chips is led by Di Liang, U-M professor of electrical engineering and computer science.
Another key advance is in squeezed light, which enables higher precision than is typical with quantum “fuzziness.” When light is “squeezed,” its quantum noise is redistributed: the measurement the user needs becomes more precise, while the uncertainty increases in a different, unmeasured property of the light.
The increase in precision is measured in decibels, as it reflects noise reduction relative to the inherent fuzziness of light in a vacuum. Having achieved a world-leading noise reduction of 3 dB using a chip, the team aims to reach a reduction of 5 dB in this phase, with an ultimate goal of 15 dB. This work is led by Zheshen Zhang, U-M associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.
A team spanning academia, industry and government
Using the coherent, quantum and attosecond properties of light for high-precision measurements is another strength of the QuPID team.
“This effort builds on long-standing, pioneering efforts with our partners at Ohio State University, Purdue, Harvard and Stanford,” said Steve Cundiff, a co-investigator of QuPID, U-M professor of physics and co-director of U-M’s Quantum Research Institute. “QRI has been instrumental in bringing the QuPID team together and accelerating joint work across institutions.”
As kickstarting the commercial development of quantum devices is a key goal of the NSF program, the QuPID team is also expanding its efforts to recruit and educate future talent. On the recruitment side, they are working with K-12 teachers to integrate quantum concepts into their curricula in ways that align with existing curriculum standards. For current workers, they are developing modules for training in quantum technology, guided by the needs of their industrial partners. And finally, they are collaborating with their outreach partners to educate the public on quantum technology.
The principal and co-principal investigators represent all three research areas of new technology development: theory, material design and device integration. Kira’s area is quantum theory and design, while Mi grows quantum materials atom by atom. Deotare, Zhang and Jelena Vučković, professor of electrical engineering at Stanford, build quantum photonic devices.
In 2028, the team will submit a proposal laying out how they would build prototypes of their quantum designs, including demonstrating quantum measurements with light outside the lab. If they succeed, they will receive $50 million over five years to produce the first real-world-ready quantum devices.
Beyond the team leads, QuPID includes researchers at U‑M LSA, Ohio State University, Purdue University, Harvard, Stanford, the University of Colorado and the University of Southern California. Participating industry researchers hail from Honeywell, MONSTR Sense Technologies, TOPTICA Photonics, General Motors, Toyota, MITRE, Quantum Opus and Raytheon. The Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA Glenn Research Center are represented, as well as international collaborators from the University of Regensburg in Germany and Polytechnique Montréal in Canada.
The National Quantum Virtual Laboratory’s Quantum Science and Technology Demonstrations are funded through the National Quantum Initiative Act.
The team will rely on the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility, the Michigan Center for Materials Characterization and individual faculty labs to produce and study quantum materials.
Kira and Deotare also have appointments in physics at U-M.