Grants / Department of Defense / Dept of the Army -- Materiel Command

W911NF-23-S-0004: BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT FOR Entangled Logical Qubits (ELQ)

Closed Closed March 21, 2023 Opportunity W911NF-23-S-0004 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Department of War (DoW) Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI) (W911NF26S1000). Status: Closes April 9, 2027 (153 days left). It is in our archive of Dept of the Army -- Materiel Command notices from 2023.

• Expected awards100
• Award amountsNot given on Grants.gov
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement, Grant, Other, Procurement Contract

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to the applicants described in the notice.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

Eligible applicants under this BAA include Institutions of Higher Education (foreign and domestic), nonprofit organizations, and for-profit concerns (large and small businesses). Proposals are encouraged from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (as determined by the Secretary of Education to meet requirements of Title III of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (20 U.S.C. §1061)) and from Minority Institutions defined as institutions “whose enrollment of a single minority or a combination of minorities exceeds 50 percent of the total enrollment.” [20 U.S.C. § 1067k(3) and 10 U.S.C. § 2362]. However, no funds are specifically allocated for HBCU/MI participation.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Most of the program's money (81% over five years) went to colleges and universities.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

Quantum computing (QC) has the potential to transcend classical limits of computing in applications of interest to the Intelligence Community (IC) and the DoD. Qubits—the indivisible units or “bits” of quantum information within a quantum computer—exhibit quantum coherence[1] and entanglement[2],[3] properties but are also subject to noise and couplings to the environment, all of which weaken coherence and lead to the loss of quantum information during computation and thus produce computational errors. Fortunately, qubits may be organized into computational units called logical qubits (LQs) that work to preserve quantum information and coherence by detecting errors within their boundaries, identifying corrections, and admitting repairs, all while maintaining fault tolerance.1,2 Theoretical and experimental advances in quantum error correction2 (QEC) have led to several demonstrations of fault-tolerant (FT) logical qubits in recent years across different hardware platforms. A further step towards universal, fault-tolerant quantum computing2 (UFTQC), however, comes by engaging separate LQs into entanglement, all while sustaining coherence and the protections of fault tolerance. Entangled Logical Qubits (ELQ) is a four-year foundational research program directed at generating high-fidelity entanglement between two error-corrected LQs in a fully FT manner, and utilizing it to achieve logical state teleportation with high success. These accomplishments will lay the cornerstone for realizing the full potential of QC and make a profound advance on the path to UFTQC. The program is divided into four (4) phases, outlined in Table 1, Table 2, and Table 4, and described in detail in Section A.3. Proposals covering all four Phases are being solicited under this BAA; proposals covering fewer may not receive full consideration. Broadly, ELQ seeks to develop and demonstrate schemes that preserve FT properties throughout an operational sequence that incorporates LQ entanglement. Importantly, the schemes must also exhibit modularity, where the entangled ensemble is built from, and separable into, decoupled, independently-operable LQs residing on the same physical platform. Modularity is also reinforced by the Program’s structure, with LQs being established separately during the first through third years of the Program before proceeding with entangling operations. We define modularity in Section A.2.1.2 and Box A in connection with architectural requirements.

Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, W911NF26S1000, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.