Quantum Science and Technology

Quantum Science and Technology

Colleges: CAS, VCEA

The “quantum revolution 2.0” ranks among the most active directions of present-day research worldwide. Applications include quantum computing, ultrasensitive rotational or gravitational sensors, imaging, fundamentally secure communications, and precision measurement. The leadership of WSU faculty active in this area is represented in activities such as leading the first lab in the Pacific Northwest to generate a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) and being part of the team that launched an ultracold BEC lab on the International Space Station. Other research efforts include: work on spin in atoms, including generation of large polarization in ensembles of both alkali-metal atoms and certain noble gases; design and validation of density functional theories (DFTs) for describing the dynamics of superfluids; understanding how and under what conditions hydrogen becomes a metal; studies of physics at the interface between quantum mechanics and chaos theory; and quantum computation. WSU also has efforts underway through collaborations with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) centering on quantum information science and other related topics. WSU researchers are key component of NASA’s Cold Atom Lab (CAL) and collaborate with an international group of researchers including several groups in Japan, China, and Germany.