DOE Renews funding for Q-NEXT to rise U.S. quantum research
DOE Reinvests $125 Million in Argonne-Led Q-NEXT Quantum Centre
Q-NEXT, a National Quantum Information Science Research Centre (NQISRC), will continue operating for five years thanks to DOE funding. Five NQISRCs, including Argonne National Laboratory-SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's Q-NEXT, received continuing funding.
Q-NEXT will receive $125 million from DOE over five years. This effort develops expertise for connecting quantum technology over short and long distances. $25 million of renewal funds are set aside for fiscal year 2026; out-of-year funding depends on congressional appropriations. The DOE announced $625 million to renew its five NQISRCs.
The United States' leadership in quantum information research and technology is cemented by this commitment. Through coordinated, complementary collaboration with DOE's other quantum research centres, the revitalised Q-NEXT will play a critical role in the national quantum ecosystem, according to Argonne Director Paul Kearns, who also said that quantum technologies are driving innovation across society.
Revitalised Mission: Distributed Entanglement
The purpose of Q-NEXT is to seamlessly connect quantum and traditional information systems across optical networks to unlock quantum information's potential. From now on, the centre will showcase distributed quantum entanglement. Entanglement happens when qubits, the building blocks of quantum information, stay coupled over long distances.
Q-NEXT The centre is “building on the strong foundation laid over the past five years to take on a renewed mission, harnessing distributed entanglement to show what’s possible with scalable quantum platforms,” says director and Argonne scientist Martin Holt. Quantum technologies in optical networks would “open the door for systems capable of revolutionising how it processes, transmits, and receives information,” Holt said.
“Quantum information science is a cornerstone of the nation's technological future, with the potential to transform industries including computing, healthcare, and national security,” said Q-NEXT's founding director and current chief science officer, David Awschalom.
Three primary scientific goals
Q-NEXT prioritises three scientific goals to accelerate the construction of a quantum-connected world:
Communication: The centre aims to build reliable quantum communication networks to link devices across cities. Demonstrating algorithms that function on many quantum processors is a priority.
Sensing: Q-NEXT will use quantum entanglement to achieve unprecedented sensing precision. Entanglement improves measurement in quantum physics and gravitation, but the research will also have practical uses in navigation and medicine.
Materials: The effort will focus on new industrial-scale material incorporation methods. This requires tackling significant difficulties associated to merging quantum material systems with advanced functionality into practical quantum devices.
Q-NEXT According to Deputy Director Jennifer Dionne, quantum systems should work chip-to-chip, lab-to-lab, and city-to-city.
Building on Foundational Success
In 2020, Q-NEXT was founded. The centre led the creation of the Argonne and SLAC Quantum Foundries in its first five years. These two national institutions support a solid supply chain of standardised materials and equipment.
Q-NEXT, a silicon carbide-based qubit with a 5-second lifespan, was one of its earliest scientific successes. Researchers also created a high-performance qubit using niobium, an understudied core quantum material. Q-NEXT released A Roadmap for Quantum Interconnects, co-authored by 39 experts from 15 organisations. It describes the technological advances needed to spread quantum information in 10–15 years.
The centre conducts large-scale, team-based materials research, device engineering, and quantum physics theoretical projects using top-notch scientific equipment. This includes the Centre for Nanoscale Materials (CNM), Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), and Advanced Photon Source (APS).
Wide-ranging partnerships boost innovation
The powerful and vibrant Q-NEXT centre partner network includes two DOE national laboratories, eleven premier institutions, and six tech enterprises. This cross-sector collaboration connects scientific discoveries to practical applications. Universities provide quantum communication and sensing expertise, and industry partners provide cutting-edge production facilities and prototypes.
Applied Materials, Caltech, Cornell University, IBM, Intel, IonQ, MIT, PsiQuantum, Quantum Opus, Stanford University, and the Universities of Chicago, Berkeley, Santa Barbara, Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Iowa, and Wisconsin Madison are expected to join the partnership.
IBM and other industry partners believe this relationship is crucial to future computing. IBM Research Director Jay Gambetta says Q-NEXT uses optical lines to create effective quantum networks using IBM's quantum networking equipment. A future “quantum computing internet” might connect multiple fault-tolerant quantum computers over kilometres using this basic technique.
The project relies on SLAC and Stanford University's collaboration on a high-bandwidth quantum network. To solve challenges, this network connects atomic, superconducting, and solid-state qubits regardless of technology.
Quantum Workforce Training
Q-future develops future quantum scientists, engineers, technicians, and other professionals in addition to research. Open Quantum Initiative Undergraduate Fellowship and DOE Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship are among the center's training and educational options. The US needs a trained workforce to preserve its quantum innovation leadership.
