Johns Hopkins APL Receives DOE Quantum Tech Research Grant

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has secured a research grant from the Department of Energy to explore approaches for characterizing and mitigating quantum noise.

APL said Monday the award is part of DOE’s broader initiative to investigate the uses of quantum computing in relation to hardware.

“Unlike classical computing — where the hardware can be abstracted from a software engineer — an algorithm designer for near-term quantum hardware must have detailed knowledge of the underlying hardware, noise characteristics and architecture,” said Dave Clader, a theoretical physicist and principal investigator of the APL research team.

The lab’s team of researchers will focus on models that can potentially function with quantum compilers.

“We are looking to integrate noise combating protocols into quantum compilers,” Clader added. “This will enable quantum programmers to write noise-resilient quantum algorithms in an automated fashion that does not require the algorithm designer to understand the detailed noise characteristics of the hardware.”

APL research partners are:

• Dartmouth College
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• Stanford University
• Unitary Fund
• University of Chicago
• University of Colorado Boulder
• University of Maryland