The University of New Mexico, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories are combining efforts to position New Mexico as a prime place for an emerging type of tech.
The "QNM Coalition" is offering a chance to hear about their work on Thursday and Friday and to learn more about the Quantum New Mexico Institute. The joint research and education organization is led by Sandia labs and UNM.
The event is open to the public, however, registration is required to access virtual and in-person gatherings. Take a look at UNM's website for the full event schedule.
Albuquerque Business First spoke to Rick Muller, the senior manager for advanced micro-systems at the Sandia National Laboratories, and Jake Douglass, the lab's quantum business development lead, to learn more about this effort.
So, what is "quantum" — and why does it matter?
"What we call 'quantum' is more generally called 'quantum information science.' And that combines two areas that have been really important in the last century's scientific and technical and economic development," Rick Muller, senior manager for advanced micro-systems at Sandia labs, told Business First. "So 'quantum physics' goes into the structure of materials at very small scales. And that's what gives us the structure of the atom... and 'information science' is [an] understanding that came in the mid-20th century around how information is transmitted, how do errors impact transmission. And [sic.] that goes into things like communicating over the internet, or communicating with your cell phone."
"'Quantum information science' combines those two areas. And one of the implications of that is [understanding] how the quantum properties of information impact computing," he added.
"People have shown that some of the things that we thought were hard in computing will be substantially less hard on a quantum device. So there is a large worldwide effort now to see whether we can realize those devices."
What will the coalition do?
"A lot of the institutions here have real expertise in this area. So, UNM has been doing quantum for, since long before it was a hot topic... Sandia has been doing this for a long time. Los Alamos [National Laboratory] was one of the pioneers of this field," Muller said. "So what this Quantum New Mexico Coalition wants to do is to unify resources across the state [around] research and development, around workforce development, around economic development and infrastructure activities to help build a broader quantum ecosystem in the state of New Mexico."
According to Sandia quantum business development lead Jake Douglass, there is public and private investment that began with the 2018 passing of the "National Quantum Initiative."
"We're at a point now where there's an inflection point. We're seeing a lot of investment both federally and privately," he told Business First. "And we're seeing companies start up and pop up. And we want to leverage the skills, the expertise, the quantum experts that we have in the state to start bringing industry here."
What can people expect at the event?
"Day one is really going to focus on... explaining what quantum is, showing the institutional support for the coalition, diving into the great and deep quantum programs that we have. And then talking about... some of the key initiatives within the Quantum New Mexico kind of program that we have going on, as well as highlighting UNM's alumni," Douglass said. "And day one will wrap up with some tours. So going and seeing some of our quantum research facilities."
"Day two again is kind of more focused on the broader coalition. You know, what is the future for Quantum New Mexico efforts? How can we better engage industry? What can be done to support the quantum economy? ... [and] building a quantum ready workforce."
In terms of talent, having a highly-qualified workforce could make the state stand out for entrepreneurs and businesses. As Muller said: "I think one of the things that would be very beneficial for companies is to find a workforce in New Mexico that understands some of the novel requirements that quantum industries have."
"Understanding cryogenic environments can be important. Sometimes there are, you know, lasers or optical communications elements of these things. And one of the reasons why getting broad university support... is that we want to be able to offer educational resources broadly to these groups so that people coming out of New Mexico institutions can be ready to get jobs in the quantum economy."
