Building the Quantum Internet Harvard University and Amazon Launch Strategic Alliance

On September 12, Harvard University and Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched a strategic alliance [1] to advance fundamental research and innovation in quantum networks.

 

 

Harvard researchers work with a quantum simulator.

 

01Three years in the making: Advancing the Harvard Quantum Initiative to power the quantum Internet

 

This effort provides significant funding for faculty-led research at Harvard and will build capacity for student recruitment, training, outreach and workforce development in this critical emerging technology area. The focus of the program is to drive rapid progress on specific research goals for quantum networks at the Harvard Quantum Initiative (HQI) Center.

 

Through a three-year research consortium supported by Harvard's Office of Technology Development, AWS will support faculty-led and designed research projects at HQI in quantum memory, integrated photonics and quantum materials; the primary goal of the research program is to develop fundamental methods and technologies for the quantum Internet.

 

"Through collaboration, academia and industry can accelerate discoveries and technological advances," said Harvard Provost Alan M. Garber. "Through our alliance with AWS, we will bring scientific scholarship and education to some of the most exciting frontiers in quantum science. Together, we will advance the goals of the Harvard Quantum Initiative, an interdisciplinary initiative that exemplifies the rewards of collaboration across diverse scientific fields."

 

Quantum networking is an emerging field that promises to help address challenges of growing importance to our world, such as secure communications and powerful quantum computing clusters," said Antia Lamas-Linares, head of quantum networking at AWS. the collaborative initiative between AWS and Harvard will leverage top research talent to explore today's quantum networks and establish a framework to develop the quantum workforce of the future."

 

02Expanding the Potential for Quantum Impact, a Breakthrough Collaboration between Industry and Academia

 

AWS will support faculty-led and designed research projects at HQI in the areas of quantum memory, integrated photonics and quantum materials. Part of the funding will also be used to upgrade the quantum fabrication capabilities of the NSF-supported Harvard NanoSystems Center; a key facility for nanofabrication, materials characterization, soft lithography and imaging.

 

The overall goal of the research program is to develop fundamental methods and technologies for the quantum Internet, in which communication and information processing are performed according to the laws of quantum mechanics. Exploring possible quantum network applications is an important area of interest as the world faces threats to privacy and security; the behavior of information in quantum networks promises unprecedented security and anonymity. However, to realize these aspirations, physicists, engineers and materials scientists must overcome challenges such as storing, manipulating, repeating and transmitting quantum information over long distances.

 

"Exploring this potential requires insight into the industry's toughest scientific challenges, which will lead to the development of new hardware, software and applications for quantum networks," Lamas-Linares said.

 

"These projects build on more than a decade of groundwork at Harvard Lab by generations of students and postdocs who have pushed the frontiers from theory to experimental physics, device engineering and materials development." said Mikhail Lukin, professor of physics and co-director of HQI.

 

In parallel with the Harvard research, AWS researchers will work to improve the engineering maturity and scalability of quantum storage technologies. aws will focus on solving scientific and engineering challenges with the goal of developing new hardware, software and applications for quantum networks to connect and enhance the capabilities of individual quantum processors.

 

Innovations in advanced technologies such as quantum will require the collaboration of academic labs, small industry, leading companies and possibly government labs," said Mikhail Lukin. Enabling such collaborations is part of HQI's mission, and the alliance with AWS is a key step in that direction."

 

"We have a unique opportunity in quantum because this research is still in the early stages of fundamental discovery but is also at the threshold of commercial implementation," said Evelyn Hu, HQI co-director and Tarr-Coyne Professor of Applied Physics and Electricity, "which in the technology world is very unusual. Especially for students training in this field, it's important to understand what science and engineering can do and what it needs to do to scale, go out into the world and be relevant."

 

03A diverse future, training the next generation of quantum workforce

 

In addition to the quantum research collaboration, AWS' complementary philanthropic support will help Harvard train and support graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, specifically designed to welcome aspiring scientists and engineers from all backgrounds.

 

While industry reports estimate that quantum technology will create hundreds of billions of dollars in value over the next decade, there are still not enough quantum experts to take on the work. HQI's AWS Generation Q Fund aims to build a diverse talent pipeline of highly qualified researchers to train the next generation of quantum scientists and engineers, as noted in Biden's recent decree.

 

AWS appreciates the far-reaching and groundbreaking role that HQI can play in helping to build the future of the quantum workforce and creating opportunities for the next generation of leaders and innovators," said HQI Co-Director Evelyn Hu. This includes through the acceptance of the Graduate School of the Arts' Research Scholars in the Goals and Sciences (RSI) program and other programs that 'provide an exploratory bridge to higher degree programs.' Such programs can provide mentored research and training, introduce students to quantum research, and provide funding for coursework and participation and attendance at conferences. These academic bridges are important for introducing the broader population to the quantum community."

 

"There is a shortage of qualified quantum-educated workforce, not only physicists, engineers, but even people involved in running these businesses." Lukin added, "We are in a unique position to contribute: essentially all the major quantum research centers in the U.S. and abroad have several Harvard-educated faculty members and group leaders."

 

04A New Kind of Industrial-Academic Collaboration

 

Subsequently, the harvard gazette, the official Harvard press, interviewed the four faculty members leading the projects that make up the research consortium: HQI co-director Evelyn Hu, electrical engineering professor Marko Lončar, physics professor and HQI co-director Mikhail Lukin, professor of physics and HQI co-director, and Hongkun Park, professor of chemistry.

 

From left to right: Evelyn Hu, Marko Lončar, Mikhail Lukin, Hongkun Park

 

The interview talks about the research at the heart of the program, how it will help students, and how the implementation of these programs will build on Harvard's long history of growth.

 

Harvard Gazette: This is an exciting alliance between HQI and AWS. What does it mean for the study of quantum science and why is it important?

 

Evelyn Hu: First of all, with quantum, much of our research is still rooted in understanding the basics, the fundamental sciences (chemistry, physics, engineering), to understand what it's all about. However, at the same time, we are aware that there are applications that are entering the commercial world. The alliance with AWS allows us to seamlessly connect the basics in different areas, more typical of academic environments, to understand where the applications are and how to make those applications really emerge from the basics. This is done with people who understand these applications and what it means to bring science, engineering and technology into the business sector and therefore into society. So the consortium represents an unprecedented opportunity for all of us at the university, especially our students, to gain that perspective and that opportunity.

 

Harvard Gazette: Speaking of students, what are the specific keys to training what is known as "Generation Q"?

 

Hongkun Park: This type of work requires true interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists and technologists with different expertise. It also represents a relatively rare, but soon to be more common, collaboration between academia and industry. As such, it provides a unique and fertile educational ground for students.

 

Evelyn Hu: Given the broad scope of the foundational platforms to be built, the very different nature of quantum information, and the span from distance to systems and applications, training Generation Q will require a significant mobilization of very diverse talents, interests, and expertise to rewrite the rules of basic education and training. New industrial-academic collaborations are also essential to span the basics and systems. Students should have the opportunity to engage in collaborations and learn first-hand about the different expertise, perspectives and "give and take" required.

 

Marko Lončar: In my opinion, we are witnessing the birth of a new scientific discipline - quantum engineering. It's similar to how electrical engineering was born out of physics many years ago, for example. Industrial relationships like the one we're building with AWS are critical to training a new generation of engineers.

 

Harvard Gazette: Has the consortium advanced the way academia and industry work together, particularly in this region?

 

Mikhail Lukin: This kind of initiative - connecting cutting-edge academic research with leading industry partners - is critical to the emerging quantum industry and quantum ecosystem throughout the U.S., particularly in the Boston area. We believe that the Boston area, with academic institutions such as Harvard and MIT, as well as a range of quantum startups, already plays a leading role in quantum work worldwide, and we see this partnership as critical to continue that leadership in the field.

 

Harvard Gazette: These projects fall into three areas: quantum memory, integrated photonics, and quantum materials. What are your goals here?

 

Hongkun Park: Our main goal is to realize the quantum repeater, which is the backbone of the quantum Internet. In the quantum Internet, communication will be carried out using individual photons, which cannot be replicated or amplified due to their intrinsic quantum nature. One of the problems is that individual photons can be lost, even over a range of about 100 or 200 kilometers within an optical fiber. So every 100 km or so, we either need to convert individual photons into classical information or somehow "duplicate" them without actually measuring them. the quantum repeater being developed by Mikhail's group provides a solution to this problem.

 

Marko's team is performing another very critical task, which is to connect quantum repeaters to the existing fiber optic networks we use today. To do this, you have to change the wavelength of the photons from the optical range to the telecommunications range. evelyn and I are working on exploring new materials for the next generation of quantum repeaters so that we can make them work at high temperatures, rather than the very low temperatures we currently have.

 

Evelyn Hu: Part of the goal of linking these project areas is ultimately to build a system, and this systems-based approach is rarely done in universities. We need resources, longevity, and an understanding of external markets and societal needs. This new collaboration provides a relevant complement.

 

Harvard Gazette: What is the quantum Internet? What can it do?

 

Marko Lončar: One feature is the security of information, because the shuttling of quantum states means that you can detect the presence of any eavesdropper. The second is consistency, which is basically a way to access quantum computers:once they are ready for prime time/in a fully quantum way. This would allow, for example, a user to generate a complex quantum state, send it to a quantum computer via the quantum internet along with a quantum algorithm, perform the computation, and then retrieve the quantum state as the result of the computation. Such an end-to-end quantum system (I like to call it a "quantum cloud") would bring unprecedented computational power and security.

 

Harvard Gazette: Will the quantum Internet be as profound an advance as the Internet?

 

Evelyn Hu: I believe that the advances that the quantum Internet will bring will be truly profound, in ways that we cannot currently foresee. In general, humans have always had a limited ability to realize or predict the impact of a new technology. In the early days, no one knew what to do with transistors. Who knew what profound changes would come from personal computers or smartphones? Likewise, what might we do if we could send, receive, process, and store information more quickly and securely than we can today? Would we be multitasking and integrating more and more sensors to seamlessly project different views of the real world?

 

Hongkun Park: In my opinion, the first real-world application of the quantum Internet is truly secure, unhackable communication. As Evelyn said, just like other profound technological developments, no one knows how things will evolve in the future.

 

Mikhail Lukin: We're not just talking about the next generation of the Internet here, but the Internet with radically new capabilities. In addition to secure communications, applications may include networked quantum computers with radically new possibilities. This is an inflection point where a new field of science is being born involving the interface between quantum physics, chemistry, computer science and device engineering. Past analogies include the emergence of new fields, such as electrical engineering or computer science. They emerge from disciplines such as physics or mathematics, all of which have had a profound impact on science and society.

 

Harvard Gazette: This alliance builds on the fundamental work that has been done at Harvard for decades. Can you give us some examples of this history?

 

Mikhail Lukin: If we go back to the 1950s and 1960s, important fundamental work has been done in understanding the quantum properties of light, how to think about them, how to describe them, what the quantumization of light means. This was the foundational work done by Nobel laureate Roy Glauber. At the same time, Ed Purcell, another physics professor at Harvard and another Nobel laureate, also did some really fundamental work involving the interaction of radiation with matter. This led to something called the Purcell effect, which is actually the phenomenon that we use to make individual photons interact strongly with individual atoms.

 

About 20 years ago, another breakthrough occurred at Harvard University. Together with several collaborators around the world, we theoretically developed the idea of quantum repeaters: the basic building blocks of the quantum Internet that correct errors in quantum transmission. This included a conceptual approach to building quantum repeaters using memory, but also specific ideas on how to actually build quantum repeaters using atom-like impurities in diamond. Later, we carried out early work on manipulating individual atom-like defects in diamond. Soon, we realized that in order to make these things practical someday, we would need not only fundamental physics, but also chemistry, photonic engineering, and materials science. That's where the collaboration between our various groups began. Another very important breakthrough happened in Marko's group, where they developed a technique to make nanoscale devices out of diamond: something that was completely impossible before. This was crucial for realizing the practical quantum network nodes that we eventually demonstrated in the lab. From this, Marko's team realized that the best way to do this was to try to make small nanoscale devices out of diamondite.

 

So it was decades of work, starting with very basic things like understanding the fundamental interactions between single atoms and single photons, to the more practical problem of how to make these completely futuristic devices. Twenty years ago, it was completely inconceivable that we could make any device out of diamond.

 

What we have now is the result of several miracles, some small and some large. What we want to do now is really take these building blocks and start making devices and putting them together into systems that, as Evelyn says, will have completely unprecedented capabilities.

 

Evelyn Hu: The miracle of science will only really manifest itself through a long-term vision, a commitment to collaboration, and the underlying trust that underpins it.

 

Reference links.

[1]https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/09/new-research-alliance-brings-quantum-internet-closer-to-reality/

[2]https://otd.harvard.edu/news/harvard-and-aws-launch-alliance-to-advance-research-in-quantum-science/