UNSW Scientia Professor Michelle Simmons Wins 2023 Prime Minister's Prize for Science for Quantum Computing Breakthroughs

UNSW Scientia Professor Michelle Simmons Wins 2023 Prime Minister's Prize for Science for Quantum Computing Breakthroughs

UNSW Scientia Professor Michelle Simmons has been awarded the 2023 Prime Minister's Prize for Science for her achievements in creating the field of atomic electronics, with a mission to create the world's first error-corrected quantum computer in Australia.

UNSW Scientia Professor Michelle Simmons Wins 2023 Prime Minister's Prize for Science for Quantum Computing Breakthroughs

Her discoveries have the potential to impact almost every industry that is dependent on data, such as revolutionising therapeutic drug design, optimising route planning for delivery or logistical systems thereby reducing fuel costs and delivery times, and creating better fertilisers for agriculture.

Prof. Simmons is an ARC Laureate Fellow and former 2018 Australian of the Year. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, the American Academy of Arts and Science, the American Association of the Advancement of Science, the UK Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, and the Australian Academy of Science.

The Prime Minister's Prizes for Science are Australia's most prestigious awards for outstanding achievements in scientific research, research-based innovation and excellence in science teaching.

Read more about this blog post in Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science.

Australian Quantum Computing Companies in Global Race to Commercialize Technology

Q-CTRL and Diraq, two prominent players in the development of valuable quantum technologies through software and hardware, have announced a collaboration on three substantial projects aimed at expanding the adoption of quantum computing for commercial purposes. This marks the initial phase of an anticipated partnership that will bring cutting-edge quantum computing capabilities to the global market, with a focus on Australia.

Australian Quantum Computing Companies in Global Race to Commercialize Technology

These two Australian quantum technology companies will join forces to deliver three projects, two of which are supported by the Quantum Computing Commercialisation Fund (QCCF) from the NSW Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer, while the third project is backed by the U.S. Army Research Office. The responsibilities for these projects will be divided between Q-CTRL and Diraq: Diraq will be responsible for the development and provision of its Silicon-based quantum computing hardware, while Q-CTRL will focus on building and integrating its quantum infrastructure software solutions to maximize the value for end-users.

Q-CTRL and Diraq's collaboration showcases Australia's leading role in the quantum technology industry worldwide. Diraq's hardware is constructed using a unique technology called spins in silicon, which enables scalability to millions, and potentially billions, of qubits per chip. On the other hand, Q-CTRL is a pioneering company that focuses on developing software solutions to enhance the utility and performance of quantum hardware. The founders and CEOs of Q-CTRL and Diraq, Michael Biercuk and Andrew Dzurak respectively, have a longstanding professional relationship spanning over two decades, starting from their academic pursuits and continuing into the industry.

With the recently announced National Quantum Strategy, the Australian quantum ecosystem is thriving, and the government has taken proactive measures to support the growth of the industry.

The Quantum Computing Commercialisation Fund, an initiative from New South Wales, aims to empower Australian companies in the quantum computing hardware and software sector. The projects supported by this fund are geared towards enhancing the commercial and technological readiness of quantum computing technologies, with a focus on long-term commercial viability. The joint efforts of Diraq and Q-CTRL will pave the way for Australia's first cloud-accessible silicon quantum processor, bringing cutting-edge capabilities to the country's globally renowned financial services sector.

Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, highlighted the shared commitment between Diraq and Q-CTRL in driving innovation in the quantum computing industry, both within Australia and on a global scale. He expressed his delight in collaborating with Q-CTRL and leveraging their respective areas of expertise to achieve successful outcomes for these transformative projects.

Australian companies and University teams have long engaged with the US Army Research Office in support of quantum computing capability development. In the current project led by Diraq, the two teams will focus on developing novel techniques to operate and optimize next-generation Silicon quantum processors. The ARO R&D program now aligns with quantum technology initiatives supported under the trilateral AUKUS agreement’s Pillar II. AUKUS Pillar II is aimed at enhancing capabilities and interoperability with a focus on cyber capabilities, AI, quantum technologies and undersea capabilities. In July, Q-CTRL announced a separate deal with the Australian Department of Defence, centering around quantum sensors for navigation; the technological breakthroughs would be shared with AUKUS partners in the US and UK.

“It’s exciting to see Australia’s two leading quantum computing companies collaborating to deliver true sovereign capability in one of the most profound technical fields of the century,” said Q-CTRL CEO and Founder, Michael Biercuk. “We’re thrilled to be helping accelerate the work of our friends at Diraq, and ensuring these powerful new systems deliver value broadly across the Australian and global economies."

More details on

1. Q-CTRL

2. Diraq

3. Image: From Google Search Internet.

Australian Prime Minister Hails UNSW's Quantum Computing Research as the World's Best

Opening: Prime Minister hails UNSW's quantum computing research as the world's best

UNSW
Friday, 22 April, 2016

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, accompanied by the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Christopher Pyne, today opened a new quantum computing laboratory complex at UNSW

[caption id="attachment_802" align="aligncenter" width="5760"] Australian Prime Minister Hails UNSW's Quantum Computing Research as the World's Best[/caption]

"There is no bolder idea than quantum computing," said Prime Minister Turnbull, hailing UNSW's research in the transformative technology as the “best work in the world".

He praised the leadership of Scientia Professor Michelle Simmons, director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T) and congratulated the centre's team on their research breakthroughs.

"You're not just doing great work, Michelle, you're doing the best work in the world.

"You're not just solving the computing challenges and determining the direction of computing for Australia, you are leading the world and it is a tribute to your leadership, your talent ... that you've attracted so many outstanding scientists and engineers from around the world,” Mr Turnbull said.

"This is a very global team and it's right here at the University of New South Wales.”

The laboratories will double the productive capacity of the UNSW headquarters of the CQC2T.

They will also be used to advance development work to commercialise UNSW’s ground-breaking quantum computing research and establish Australia as an international leader in the industries of the future. The work has attracted major investment from the Australian Government, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Telstra.

CQC2T is leading the international race to build the world’s first quantum computer in silicon.

The new laboratories, which have been funded by UNSW, will house six new scanning tunnelling microscopes, which can be used to manipulate individual atoms, as well as six cryogenic dilution refrigerators that can reach ultra-low temperatures close to absolute zero.

“The international race to build a super-powerful quantum computer has been described as the space race of the computing era,” said Professor Michelle Simmons.

“Our Australian centre’s unique approach using silicon has given us a two to three-year lead over the rest of the world. These facilities will enable us to stay ahead of the competition.”

The new labs will also be essential for UNSW researchers to capitalise on the commercial implications of their work.

In December 2015, as part of its National Innovation and Science Agenda, the Australian Government committed $26 million towards a projected $100 million investment to support the commercial development of UNSW’s research to develop a quantum computer in silicon.

Following the Australian Government’s announcement of support, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Telstra each pledged $10 million for the development of a ten-qubit prototype. This prototype will be partly designed and built in the new facility.

“In addition to our fundamental research agenda, we now have an ambitious and targeted program to build a ten-qubit prototype quantum integrated circuit within five years,” said Professor Simmons. “By mapping the evolution of classical computing devices over the last century we would expect commercial quantum computing devices to appear within 5-10 years of that milestone.”

It is a prospect strongly endorsed by UNSW President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Jacobs.

“UNSW is committed to supporting world-leading research, and quantum computing is a key part of our future strategy. We are excited by the opportunities these new laboratories provide us to work jointly with industry and government.

“Our hope, long term, is that this will one day establish Australia as an international leader in one of the key industries of the future,” Professor Jacobs said.

Commonwealth Bank Chief Information Officer David Whiteing said: “Commonwealth Bank is proud to support the University of New South Wales' world-leading quantum computing research team and join the Australian Government in providing tangible support for their National Innovation and Science Agenda.

“In today’s world everyone relies increasingly on computers from those in the palm of our hand to the computers on our desk. Quantum computing is set to increase the speed and power of computing beyond what we can currently imagine. This is still some time in the future, but the time for investment is now. This type of long-term investment is a great example of how collaboration between universities, governments and industry will benefit the nation and our economy, now and into the future.”

Kate McKenzie, Telstra Chief Operations Officer, said that the opening of the new CQC2T laboratories was a significant milestone for science and innovation in Australia.

“In December 2015 we announced our proposed $10 million investment to help with development of silicon quantum computing technology in Australia with CQC2T. It’s an important part of Telstra’s commitment to help build a world class technology nation,” Ms McKenzie said.

“Quantum computing has huge potential globally, so I’m delighted to be here today to see this dynamic, world-leading program.”

Researchers at CQC2T lead the world in the engineering and control of individual atoms in silicon chips

The UNSW-based ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology is leading the global race to build the world’s first quantum computer in silicon.

In 2012, a team led by Professor Simmons, of the Faculty of Science, created the world’s first single‑atom transistor by placing a single phosphorus atom into a silicon crystal with atomic precision, achieving a technological milestone ten years ahead of industry predictions. Her team also produced the narrowest conducting wires ever made in silicon, just four atoms of phosphorus wide and one atom high.

In 2012, researchers led by Professor Andrea Morello, of the Faculty of Engineering, created the world’s first qubit based on the spin of a single electron on a single phosphorus atom embedded in silicon.

In 2014, his group then went on demonstrate that these qubits could be engineered to have the longest coherence times (greater than 30 seconds) and highest fidelities (>99.99%) in the solid state.

In 2013, Scientia Professor Sven Rogge, of the Faculty of Science, demonstrated the ability to optically address a single atom, a method that could allow the long-distance coupling of qubits.

And in 2015, researchers led by Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, of the Faculty of Engineering, built the first quantum logic gate in silicon – a device that makes calculations between two qubits of information possible. This clears one of the critical hurdles to making silicon-based quantum computers a reality.

More Information Links:

Backgrounder: Quantum computing at UNSW and timeline of major scientific and engineering advances

Backgrounder: New quantum computing laboratories at UNSW

News Release Source : Opening: Prime Minister hails UNSW's quantum computing research as the world's best

Image Credit : UNSW

Australian Researchers Advance Towards Silicon Based Quantum Computer

Atoms placed precisely in silicon can act as quantum simulator

UNSW
22 APR 2016

Coinciding with the opening of a new quantum computing laboratory at UNSW by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, UNSW researchers have made another advance towards the development of a silicon-based quantum computer.

[caption id="attachment_792" align="aligncenter" width="562"]                                       Australian Researchers Advance Towards                          Silicon Based Quantum Computer[/caption]

Coinciding with the opening of a new quantum computing laboratory at UNSW by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, UNSW researchers have made another advance towards the development of a silicon-based quantum computer.

In a proof-of-principle experiment, they have demonstrated that a small group of individual atoms placed very precisely in silicon can act as a quantum simulator, mimicking nature – in this case, the weird quantum interactions of electrons in materials.


“Previously this kind of exact quantum simulation could not be performed without interference from the environment, which typically destroys the quantum state,” says senior author Professor Sven Rogge, Head of the UNSW School of Physics and program manager with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T).

“Our success provides a route to developing new ways to test fundamental aspects of quantum physics and to design new, exotic materials – problems that would be impossible to solve even using today’s fastest supercomputers.”

The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. The lead author was UNSW’s Dr Joe Salfi and the team included CQC2T director Professor Michelle Simmons, other CQC2T researchers from UNSW and the University of Melbourne, as well as researchers from Purdue University in the US.


Two dopant atoms of boron only a few nanometres from each other in a silicon crystal were studied. They behaved like valence bonds, the “glue” that holds matter together when atoms with unpaired electrons in their outer orbitals overlap and bond.

The team’s major advance was in being able to directly measure the electron “clouds” around the atoms and the energy of the interactions of the spin, or tiny magnetic orientation, of these electrons.

They were also able to correlate the interference patterns from the electrons, due to their wave-like nature, with their entanglement, or mutual dependence on each other for their properties.

“The behaviour of the electrons in the silicon chip matched the behaviour of electrons described in one of the most important theoretical models of materials that scientists rely on, called the Hubbard model,” says Dr Salfi.

“This model describes the unusual interactions of electrons due to their wave-like properties and spins. And one of its main applications is to understand how electrons in a grid flow without resistance, even though they repel each other,” he says.

The team also made a counterintuitive find – that the entanglement of the electrons in the silicon chip increased the further they were apart.

“This demonstrates a weird behaviour that is typical of quantum systems,” says Professor Rogge.

“Our normal expectation is that increasing the distance between two objects will make them less, not more, dependent on each other.

“By making a larger set of dopant atoms in a grid in a silicon chip we could realise a vision first proposed in the 1980s by the physicist Richard Feynman of a quantum system that can simulate nature and help us understand it better,” he says.

Australian Government Invested A$26 million for Development of Advanced Quantum Computing

A$26 million for development of advanced quantum computing

12 Feb 2016

The Australian Government recently announced an investment of A$26 million over five years to support the development of advanced quantum computingin Australia.

[caption id="attachment_729" align="aligncenter" width="563"]                            Australian Government Invested A$26 million for             Development of  Advanced Quantum Computing[/caption]

The funding, part of the new National Innovation & Science Agenda initiative, is being given to the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communications Technology (CQC2T) at the University of New South Wales (NSW).

The Centre is at the forefront of the race to build the world’s first functioning quantum computer.

In classic computing, information is represented in one of two states, either zero or one. In quantum computing, information can be stored in a large number of different states at the same time, meaning that quantum computers will have the astonishing potential to solve in minutes problems that now take conventional computers hundreds of years to process.

In October last year, the team at CQC2T announced a major quantum computing breakthrough, which was reported around the world. The NSW scientists found a way to incorporate quantum computing technology into silicon-based computer chips.

A significant advance and widely regarded, this has been reported as the first step in developing a practical quantum computing system because silicon, the building block of modern electronic devices, is cheap, easy to manufacture, and already widely available.

Quantum computing will have a transformational effect on the world as we know it today: the capacity to find information at lightning speed within a massive dataset will be a game changer in many fields, including aeronautics, finance, information technology, medicine and security.

‘It’s the space race of the computing era,’ says Professor Michelle Simmons, Director of the CQC2T at the University of New South Wales.

News Release Source : A$26 million for development of advanced quantum computing

Image Credit : UNSW