Nestled in the Chesterfield—a nearly century-old cigarette manufacturing building—in downtown Durham, NC lies a cutting-edge research facility making waves in its field: the Duke Quantum Computing Center.
Above: The restored Chesterfield Building—home of the Duke Quantum Computing Center. Image courtesy of Discover Durham.
The Center is a hub for scientific exploration and putting theory into practice. By pushing the boundaries of quantum computing, Duke is placing itself at the center of a new technological revolution. Unlocking the potential of a new digital age, however, comes with uncertainties and questions.
Quantum Computing Explained
Quantum computing is, to many, synonymous with a school of “magic.” However, it can all be explained through quantum mechanics and other forms of complex physics.
The focal point of quantum is the quantum bit, or qubit. For conventional computing, a single bit represents a zero or one, but that notion doesn’t exist in quantum. With the qubit, one and zero can exist simultaneously, a state known as superposition.
One way of thinking of this paradox is with the classic Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment: the cat is in a “superposition” of being alive and dead until the box is opened, at which point the system collapses to a classical outcome of either alive or dead.
Because quantum computers can be one and zero at the same time, they can parallel process many possibilities at once. This approach yields a computational speed that is exponentially higher than that of a conventional computer.
Pioneering Research at the Duke Quantum Computing Center
Duke University has been pioneering its own path toward quantum research. Dr. Christopher Monroe, Director of the Duke Quantum Computing Center, explained what makes Duke’s quantum computing unique. “We actually do build quantum computers here that are research quantum computers, and we use them for research. We're the only [one] out of 50 or 60 quantum centers in the US alone. We're the only one that does that. We build the computer, and we use it, and we design algorithms that talk to the base hardware, and we can get under the hood because we built the machine,” Dr. Monroe said.
Above: Dr. Christopher Monroe examines ion-trap equipment. Image courtesy of Science Magazine.
Duke Quantum does it all: computer science, physics, electrical engineering, and more. Indeed, Duke is the only vertically integrated quantum computing center in the world. As a change-making industry leader, the Center has garnered attention from industry partners.
Funding and Scaling
With massive interest in advancing the field, the Duke Quantum Computing Center alone has received nearly $250 million in funding from the government, academic community, and private sector. Of this funding, approximately $100 million originates from government contracts.
This enormous amount of government funding is driven by competition between Chinese and US innovation, as China gaining the upper hand in quantum computing has the potential to threaten US national security. Dr. Monroe has experience with government contracting and has even gone to Capitol Hill to speak with congresspeople. He offered a unique perspective on the technological competition: “The reason [the government is] moved by [competition] is that one of the big killer apps of quantum computing is breaking codes, reading decryption,...breaking blockchain and Bitcoin, things like this…[the Chinese] can do lots of stuff, subvert military operations, but also banking economics.”
Hearing this, one might think doomsday is soon to come. However, Dr. Monroe clarified the situation: “The good news, I guess, is that [those actions] require a quantum computer with probably a few million qubits. We only have 50 now. It requires a quantum computer with billions of operations. We can only do about 1,000 now. So it's really in the distant future, but it's gonna happen eventually. It's just a question of when.”
Indeed, scaling quantum to this level proves difficult. While adding every qubit to a quantum computer doubles the computing capacity, it also increases the probability of breaking its superposition state. Scaling comes with a variety of obstacles, including environmental interference, temperature, vibrations, or even available power. Any slight change in the surrounding world could alter the qubits in the quantum computer, leading to a collapse of the inner system.
Why Quantum Computing Matters
Whether it be drug research, data analysis, cybersecurity, or finance, dozens of industries are eying quantum. Many of these uses, however, are simply not feasible at the current stage of development. But Duke Quantum’s discoveries shine a line to the end of the tunnel.
Particularly, Duke Quantum’s signature—ion trap quantum computing—offers a promising future for the field. In this process, researchers confine ions—charged atomic particles—and suspend them in free space using electromagnetic fields. They apply lasers to induce quantum properties and coupling between qubit states. Each ion represents a qubit, and quantum information is transferred through the collective motion of the ions.
Above: Lasers used in ion-trap quantum computing. Image courtesy of Duke Pratt School of Engineering.
“I think the version we use [with] the atoms and the lasers, that's the one that scales…Will this scale to something interesting? I think it's going to take a number of years, not necessarily a number of decades, to get there,” Dr. Monroe said.
No sure predictions can be made now; however, one could reasonably assume that any problem that is too hard for your regular computer might be helped by a quantum computer. For example, predicting stock markets—which requires hundreds of factors to account for—and other optimization problems detailing probabilities—such as models for predicting the weather or remapping billions of base pairs of DNA—would benefit from quantum computing. Regardless of the industry, quantum computing may be able to lend a helping hand, simplifying today's problems with the future’s technology.
How Duke Students Can Make a Difference
With so much potential for discovery at Duke Quantum, Duke students may be interested in contributing. Monroe gave a couple of recommendations for getting involved: “There is an undergrad quantum computing club… [W]e have undergraduates here at the Duke Quantum Center in all of the labs. [In] my own group, we have a few.”
The Duke Quantum Center also holds bi-weekly talks and social events for students interested in getting involved and learning more about the field.
As Monroe concluded, “The best thing is to get involved with the research… and see where that takes you.”