Quantum physics looks at very tiny atomic-scale particles, which move and act in a very different way than Isaac Newton's laws of physics dictate. They're so fragile that simply examining them – by causing other atoms to interact with them in an electron microscope, for instance -- changes their very nature. But scientists believe they hold the key to the next leap in computing power, and UCSB just won the contest to be the nation's first Quantum Foundry.
Already, Dr. John Martinis of UCSB's Physics Department is leading an impenetrably complicated project off-campus in a Goleta Google facility to achieve super-high computing speeds. He's one of the leaders among dozens of researchers at UCSB, all of whom formed a winning combination of brainpower and cutting-edge facilities for the highly competitive National Science Foundation's $25 million grant. About 23 faculty members are involved in the new Foundry from the materials, physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, and computer science departments, led by materials professor Stephen Wilson and physics professor Ania Bleszynski Jayich. The collaborative nature of UCSB's science faculties and labs was another reason the NSF chose UCSB, Bleszynski Jayich said.
"Our culture is so interdisciplinary and so collaborative," Bleszynski Jayich said. "We all work together, as do other universities, but UCSB does it better than anywhere else." The Quantum Foundry's goal is to develop new systems to "gain control over the materials," she explained. "Our shared facilities in multiple disciplines are state of the art. Super-clean systems can control all the interactions with the environment, including other atoms bouncing off of them. They are so delicate; they are easily destroyed by any interaction."