Sebastian Will and Ana Asenjo-Garcia Receive $2M NSF Grant for Quantum Research

Professor Sebastian Will and Professor Ana Asenjo-Garcia together with Professor Nanfang Yu (Applied Physics) have received a $2M collaborative research grant for the project "Enhancing Quantum Coherence by Dissipation in Programmable Atomic Arrays.” The project has been awarded within the National Science Foundation’s Quantum Idea Incubator - Transformational Advances in Quantum Systems (QII-TAQS) program and is one of the first to be chosen for federal funding in quantum research since the announcement of the National Quantum Initiative Act that was signed into law last December.

Out of 200 pre-proposals for this funding opportunity, only 19 grants were awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Of those, the proposal put forth by PI Sebastian Will, and Co-PIs Ana Asenjo-Garcia, and Nanfang Yu was one of two that received a “high priority” ranking. “This project brings together experimental and theoretical atomic physics techniques with quantum engineering expertise,” said Bogdan Mihaila, the NSF program officer overseeing this research grant. “If successful in protecting collective quantum states from decay, overcoming a key limitation of existing quantum systems, this effort will demonstrate an important step forward for developing quantum memory and quantum sensors. That would achieve a primary goal of Quantum Leap, one of NSF’s 10 Big Ideas for Future Investments.”

For more details see the press release and the NSF award page.