Quantum Information: Science for a new century

At the turn of the twentieth century, the science of physics underwent a critical transformation. The freshly minted theories of Max Planck, Albert Einstein, and Neils Bohr produced a premise for physics that considered atomic and subatomic systems, and their interactions with radiation, in terms of observable quantities. The notion that all forms of energy moved in discrete units called quanta was eventually constituted into a new subfield of physics called quantum mechanics. Over the course of that century, the work of scientists like Wolfgang Pauli, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Richard Feynman and others further fueled the scientific world's interest in and knowledge of quantum physics.

By the turn of the twenty-first century, the study of quantum mechanics had evolved far beyond its modest origins and had engendered a number of different areas of inquiry, including a field called quantum information science. Quantum information science brought together physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, chemists, and engineers in an interdisciplinary community working to develop advanced communication and information technologies based on or exploiting quantum physics theory. Today quantum information science research is taking place at institutions all over the world, and advances have been made in both the theoretical and experimental realms. One of the principal goals of quantum information science has been the development of a quantum computer. If realized, a quantum computer could far surpass the speed and computational abilities of even the most powerful of conventional computers.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is one of the world's leading forces in the field of quantum information science. From theoretical studies of decoherence to experimental designs for the capture and manipulation of individual atoms for national security applications of quantum principles, researchers at the Laboratory are making significant contributions to every major area of quantum information science research. Although these researchers come from a number of different Laboratory divisions, including the Chemistry, Computer and Computational Sciences, International, Space and Response Technologies, Materials Science and Technology, Nuclear Nonproliferation, Physics, and Theoretical divisions, they are united together under the mission and auspices of the Los Alamos Quantum Institute.

The Quantum Institute: An institute to foster interdisciplinary research

The Quantum Institute: Meet the Scientists

The Quantum Institute's National Security Mission at Los Alamos

Brochure: "The Quantum Institute at Los Alamos National Laboratory" (PDF 3.5MB)