Building a diverse quantum future

Established in 2021, the IBM-SPIE HBCU Faculty Accelerator Award in Quantum Optics and Photonics honored Renu Tripathi, a professor of physics and engineering at Delaware State University (DSU), as its inaugural recipient. In her proposal, Tripathi sought to demonstrate “a quantum gyroscope with a high rotation sensitivity, suitable for inertial navigation applications.” She also outlined plans to develop quantum-science education curricula and teaching practices at DSU, including providing hands-on experience and training to DSU students through summer research programs and workshops. The combination of innovative quantum research and engaging approaches to education was the perfect match to kick off a program aimed at helping to provide a diverse quantum workforce.

The $100,000 annual award, presented jointly by SPIE and the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center, supports and promotes research and education in quantum optics and photonics within IBM-HBCU Quantum Center member institutions — which currently includes 27 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) — and can be used for students or postdoc researcher stipends, travel, conference registration, equipment, materials and supplies, and faculty summer salary. The collaboration arose as a way to ensure that quantum and its related technologies of the future incorporate the skills, experience, and input of a diverse community; SPIE and IBM believe the impact of these technologies will be stronger with the inclusion of the ideas and work of the diverse student-bodies found at America’s HBCUs. The IBM-SPIE joint annual award is expected to provide a shared total of $500,000 by 2025.

“The IBM-HBCU Quantum Center was established to build an ecosystem for traditionally underrepresented students and professionals in the emerging field of quantum computing,” said Dr. Kayla Lee — then Academic Alliance Lead, Partner Ecosystem at IBM Quantum and now Global Lead, Ecosystem Growth at IBM Quantum — when the award was first announced. “By extension, this joint award is an investment in the strengthening of research and career opportunities at HBCUs.”

Tripathi’s quantum gyroscope is progressing nicely: “One of the main constituents of the quantum gyroscope is a comagnetometer,” she says. “The award certainly allowed me to start developing an experimental testbed for a 87Rb — 129Xe comagnetometer. We are currently assembling this setup to study the magnetic field response of the comagnetometer operating in the spin-exchange relaxation-free (SERF) regime. This will ultimately allow us to develop a highly sensitive gyroscope.” In addition, experiential student teaching and training has been implemented with a new Quantum Science Education Lab — “to enrich student experience in learning, education, and innovation” — as well as a new course, Introduction to Quantum Computing. “Since receiving the award, we have also held three summer quantum-sensing-related research programs,” notes Tripathi. “During our eight-week program, students have the opportunity to work alongside senior graduate students, learning about different aspects of the experimental projects and carrying out various measurements and analysis related to the project.” At the conclusion of the program, the undergraduates present their research at the university’s Summer Research Symposium. “That exposure helps pique their interest in research,” says Tripathi. “Actually, most of my students have decided to continue working in my laboratory beyond the summer program.”

The 2022 recipient of the award, Wesley Sims, is an assistant professor of physics at Morehouse College and director of its Micro/Nano Optics Research and Engineering Laboratory. The award’s multi-faceted impact has had a broad reach, supporting Sims’ research as well as several students in his lab, and enhancing Sims’ ability to provide transformative mentorship for his students as they build their own careers. Sims is leveraging a collaboration with SPIE Member Sergio Carbajo, who holds faculty and leadership roles at UCLA and Stanford University’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; Sims is also a member of the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center. These relationships plug Sims’ students into an extensive network of colleagues and peers. “The students are involved in our weekly research meetings with Sergio and his postdoc,” says Sims, “so they get real experience on how labs operate. And the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center holds meetings for all the students supported by the involved schools: they get a chance to collaborate and see what their peers are working on at other HBCUs across the country.”

Sims at work in his Morehouse lab.

Sims’ research is focused on quantum sensing, detecting and measuring physical phenomena with high precision. “We’re investigating a type of electronic optical dynamics — high harmonic generation — and we’re taking a new approach, trying to capture it in real-time,” Sims says. “To do this, we’re developing a new technology capable of detecting and cross-correlating two different wave packets, or two different photons. We initially called it the hyperspectral attosecond quantum cross-correlator, but as we’re getting further and further into the research, we think we might change the name to a time-correlation transducer.”

The award provides Sims with the flexibility to modify his research to a gratifying extent, but being able to create career-enhancing opportunities for students remains a major benefit in his mind. Having his own funding at a small liberal arts institution means being able to mentor students into their graduate degrees and providing them with the kind of hands-on experience that will bridge a gap between quantum-workforce needs and available talent. That, he says, “is probably the most rewarding part for me.”

Most recently, the 2023 IBM-SPIE HBCU Faculty Accelerator Award in Quantum Optics and Photonics has gone to a group of researchers and educators at Tuskegee University. The team includes the head of the university’s physics department Akshaya Kumar; Dimitar Dimitrov, a fellow physicist and committed student mentor; Fan Wu, who facilitates cutting-edge computational tools for this research group’s students; and S. Keith Hargrove, a scientist, industry-alliance expert, and the university’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.

The Tuskegee University group will use the award to implement “Exploring the Optical Properties of Rare Earth-Doped Glasses and Photonic Crystals,” a project that will explore and utilize the importance of rare-earth ions doped in glasses which have a significant impact on quantum optics, photonics, and quantum-stage storage. One application in particular involves the integration of solid-state laser materials, crucial for transmitting quantum information via light.

The team at Tuskegee University (left to right): Dimitar Dimitrov, Fan Wu, S. Keith Hargrove, and Akshaya Kumar.

“Our team is very grateful to receive the IBM-SPIE HBCU Faculty Accelerator Award in Quantum Optics and Photonics,” said Kumar. “We are excited to be introducing Tuskegee University students to the frontier area of quantum optics and photonics research. This grant will be particularly helpful to the university’s faculty and students researching glass materials doped with rare earth ions and photonic crystals for quantum upconversion, quantum cutting, and light quantum control applications. At the same time, a tandem approach for understanding the photonic crystals via theoretical simulation and experimental research is planned by university researchers.”

“In supporting quantum research programs and education at HBCUs through this collaboration with the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center, we hope to empower a truly diverse scientific and engineering community,” said SPIE CEO Kent Rochford. “Quantum is critical to technological innovation, and we want to ensure that the field is open, accessible, and inclusive for current and future generations of optics and photonics students. Three years in, this program is already contributing to delivering that objective.”

This article was originally published in the Photonics West Show Daily in February 2024.