DOE Funding for Kais QIS Team
2021-07-29
Writer(s): Steve Scherer
Professor Sabre Kais is leading a team selected to receive U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding.
The DOE announced $73 million in funding to advance quantum information science (QIS) research to help scientists better understand the physical world and harness nature to benefit people and society. The 29 projects will study the materials and chemical processes needed to develop the next generation of quantum smart devices and quantum computing technology -- critical tools to solving the most pressing and complex challenges, from climate change to national security.
Kais’ Purdue project is: “Quantum Computing Algorithms and Applications for Coherent and Strongly Correlated Chemical Systems.”
“A central challenge of the chemical science is the design and synthesis of “efficient” molecules and materials, that is molecules and materials that can efficiently transfer and store energy and/or information or generate new molecules through chemical reactions. The appearance of these desirable properties in molecules and materials, however, frequently coincides with the emergence of exponential complexity in their many-electron wave functions, known as strong electron correlation,” Kais explained.
He says the advent of publicly available quantum computing hardware with programmable interfaces has led to an explosion of interest in developing and applying quantum algorithms to chemistry problems.
His team is collaborating with The University of Chicago and Harvard University where they are planning to develop methods and explore ideas in the field of quantum information and quantum computing for complex chemical systems.