UR gets $4M grant from Department of Energy

The University of Rochester has received $4 million for research in the growing, multidisciplinary field of Quantum Information Science, which is viewed as the foundation for the next generation of computing and information processing. The Department of Energy grant was awarded through a competitive national application process.

Gilbert Collins, professor of mechanical engineering in the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences and of physics in the School of Arts & Sciences, as well as associate director at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics , will lead this research.

“Today we begin to explore a new realm of quantum matter, where atoms are squeezed to such close proximity that quantum properties are no longer subtle, and can persist to very high temperatures,” Collins said. “Our team is diverse and contains top leaders in the fields of high-energy density science, emergent quantum materials, plasmas, condensed matter and computations. We will have extensive outreach, workshops and high profile publications, to engage a world-wide community in this extreme quantum revolution.”

The “Extreme Quantum Team” will focus their research on tuning the energy density of matter into a high-energy-density quantum regime to understand extremes of quantum matter behavior, properties and phenomena.