#sqms

The Fermilab Quantum Computing 2025

The U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is a world-leading particle physics and accelerator research facility and an innovation hub for DOE's goals of advancing artificial intelligence and quantum information science. The lab's ambitious team of scientists, engineers, technicians, and operations personnel advanced the lab's scientific mission throughout the year through significant new findings, fascinating partnerships, and progress on crucial projects that support Fermilab's future as the world's neutrino research centre.

Fermilab Highlights 2025 Quantum Science Advances

Fermilab strengthened its status as a leading U.S. research centre for cutting-edge technologies in 2025 with several quantum information science (QIS) discoveries. National events, new facilities, and strategic collaborations with business and government helped the lab grow its quantum research program all year.

Fermilab's commitment to creating quantum computing, networking, and sensing technologies that could transform computation, measurement, and materials research for decades underpins these programs.

Reviewing the Quantum Universe Symposium Fermilab hosted a statewide conference dubbed “Exploring the Quantum Universe” in early December, bringing together US quantum researchers. It showcased cutting-edge quantum technology and promoted collaboration between academic institutions, national labs, and the corporate sector. QIS applications in fundamental physics and scaling quantum technology challenges were discussed.

Fermilab feature article said the conference supported federal efforts to advance quantum science and innovation in the US. The lab connected basic research with quantum applications using its superconducting technologies and particle physics expertise.

DOE-Assisted SQMS Centre Extension

2025 saw the expansion of Fermilab's DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Centre, the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems (SQMS) Centre. In November, DOE awarded SQMS $125 million over five years to enhance quantum computing, networking, and sensing technologies.

SQMS Centre uses Fermilab's superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) technologies, originally developed for particle accelerators. To produce scalable and highly coherent quantum systems, these SRF systems are being improved and enhanced for quantum information processing.

Leaders of SQMS said this financing will advance integrated quantum devices, scalable cryogenic infrastructure, and ultra-high coherence qubits, which are needed for quantum computer systems. The center's work also supports global quantum network efforts to link sensors and processors.

Overcoming the Coherence Barrier

One of the year's biggest technical achievements was superconducting multimode qudit platforms with coherence times above 20 ms. “Qudits” can exist in many states, exponentially extending computing space, unlike regular qubits, which have two states (0 and 1).

Fermilab researchers used ultra-high-coherence 3D superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities originally designed for particle accelerators to build the longest-lived quantum processor unit. This architecture increases connection and reduces control complexity, addressing one of the business's key "noise" issues.

MAGIS-100: A Massive Telescope for Tiny Signals Fermilab also celebrated the completion of MAGIS-100, the world's largest vertical atom interferometer's laser laboratory. This 100-meter access shaft houses cutting-edge quantum sensing equipment to detect the universe's “tiniest signals” from the farthest regions.

MAGIS-100 uses quantum sensors on cold atoms to detect:

Finding incredibly light candidates that conventional detectors cannot detect is called “dark matter.” Gravitational waves are spacetime ripples observed at a frequency range unavailable to other studies.

This is called “New Physics.” It tests quantum mechanics' fundamental limits at large scales.

Strategic Alliances with QICK Platform

The DOE, Fermilab, and Qblox created and marketed the Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit (QICK) to make these technologies commercially available. A key tool for managing quantum bits, Fermilab's open-source platform is expanding to include thousands of qubits.

Wide-ranging Impact on Quantum Ecosystem Fermilab's quantum efforts include public engagement, workforce development, and inter-institutional collaboration. Major symposiums like Exploring the Quantum Universe promote government, corporate, and academic communication. This integrated strategy aligns with the U.S. National Quantum Initiative's QIS goals to accelerate technical development and commercialisation.

Fermilab also collaborates with private enterprises, other national labs, and foreign partners on quantum computing, sensing, and networking projects. These coordinated efforts aim to tackle quantum hardware design, error correction, and system scaling challenges.

Looking Ahead

As 2026 approaches, Fermilab's quantum research should develop. With more federal support, funding, and scientific community involvement, Fermilab can make discoveries that could alter basic research and cutting-edge technologies.

Fermilab's Quantum Centre received a $125 million renewal to develop scalable quantum supercomputing.

Superconducting Quantum Systemsand Materials SQMS The U.S. Department of Energy's Fermilab Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Centre has received major financing. The centre was restarted with a $125 million investment over five years to accelerate quantum information science (QIS) advances.

The 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act established five NQISRCs, including Fermilab's SQMS Centre. The new project, known as SQMS 2.0, aims to overcome fundamental impediments to take quantum computing, communication, and sensing from basic discovery to scale implementation and beneficial innovation.

Quantum Decoherence: The Main Challenge SQMS 2.0's fundamental challenge is quantum decoherence, the extremely short time a quantum bit, or qubit, can keep information. Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems SQMS uses Fermilab's decades of experience with superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) technology, originally developed for particle accelerators.

The Center's strength is constructing quantum platforms with ultra-high-quality-factor SRF cavities. Microchip-based qubits have microsecond coherence times, whereas the Center's cavity-based technique has world-record coherence. Scientists have shown that SRF cavities can maintain quantum states for two seconds. This can substantially reduce errors and boost performance by orders of magnitude.

Director Anna Grassellino recommends materials science to combat decoherence. The creation of a surface encapsulation technology that reduces the loss caused by oxide and surface dielectrics in superconducting devices is a notable achievement. Transmon qubit lifetimes have smashed millisecond records since this discovery.

Scaling Innovations: Qubit to Qudit Architecture The three main goals of SQMS 2.0 are to bridge lab-bench discovery with industrial-scale quantum technology.

An SRF quantum processor with over 100 qubits is the goal. SQMS promotes a qudit-based device that encodes numerous quantum states in a superconducting cavity. Scaling involves building and implementing a 100-plus-qudit prototype that is around 500 qubits in processing area.

Multi-level encoding in high-coherence, 3D SRF cavities will be combined with chip-based transmon qubits. This 3D technique has more connectivity and less control complexity than 2D systems. SQMS researchers created the longest-lived multimode superconducting quantum processor unit (QPU) with a coherence lifetime of over 20 milliseconds.

SQMS will also study device advances and chip-based materials. This vital, cross-cutting effort will benefit commercial 2D platforms and the 3D cavity architecture by delivering higher-coherence superconducting devices. The ambitious goal of this project is chip-based transmon qubits with 10-millisecond coherence.

Building Quantum Infrastructure: Cryogenics and Interconnects

The second goal is to demonstrate the first scalable quantum data centre unit. Building a large quantum computer requires upgraded qubits and a scalable infrastructure to hold and run them at near absolute zero temperatures. Fermilab's particle accelerators depend on its cryogenics history.

The Centre is building the world's largest and most powerful dilution refrigerator, "Colossus." Colossus, which houses thousands of qubits, is a vital step towards energy-efficient quantum data centres.

SQMS also addresses the fundamental barrier to linking QPUs. This centre will prototype high-fidelity, cavity-based communications and other cryogenic and microwave infrastructure needed for large-scale connectivity. This work is needed to create a "quantum computing internet," which would group quantum computers into one massive system. SQMS also uses “squeezed light” technology to increase the pace of entangled particle pairs over vast distances to revolutionise quantum networking.

Quantum Sensing and Fundamental Physics Expand Impact SQMS Centre influence goes beyond networking and computation. Together with the quantum computer, scientists are developing new quantum sensors using the Center's high-coherence devices' unprecedented sensitivity and accuracy for basic physics research.

Researchers employ very sensitive SRF cavity-based quantum sensors to search for elusive particles outside the Standard Model. This covers dark matter candidates like dark photons and axions and gravitational waves. The sensitivity of these quantum devices should be orders of magnitude higher than previous attempts. These devices enable precision magnetometry and quantum physics fundamental experiments.

Ecosystem Collaboration and Workforce Development SQMS brings together approximately 550 individuals from 36 partner institutions, including top universities, industry giants, and national labs.

The IBM alliance on quantum interconnects, superconducting qubit noise, and large-scale cryogenics is a major advance. Within five years, this cooperation will entangle two cryogenically separated IBM quantum computers connected by a microwave-based quantum network to showcase a quantum data centre. Rigetti Computing, NASA Ames Research Centre, Northwestern University, Goldman Sachs, and Lockheed Martin are among key partners.

Creating the next generation of quantum talent is crucial. The SQMS Centre runs the novel quantum information science "Quantum Garage." This cutting-edge institution trains hundreds of undergraduates and postdocs with quantum testbeds and dilution refrigerators.

Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Centre Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems (SQMS) Centre, a DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Centre based at Fermilab, is developing scalable quantum computing and communication technologies.

SQMS researchers integrated advanced materials science with Fermilab's accelerator technology skills to make substantial progress. The longest-lived multimode superconducting  quantum processor unit (QPU)  yet created has a coherence lifetime of almost 20 milliseconds. By overcoming typical superconducting platform limits, this discovery will revolutionise quantum computing.

The SQMS Centre aims to understand and eliminate decoherence mechanisms in superconducting 2D and 3D devices. Coherence time, which defines how long a qubit can maintain its quantum state without outside noise, underpins quantum computing, sensing, and communication. SQMS is expanding this key metric through excellent materials science and the intricate integration of superconducting quantum cavities with industry-made computer circuits.

Unique Method Based on Particle Physics

The innovative SQMS technique uses a superconducting qubit device inside a 3D SRF cavity. These complicated systems are chilled to extremely low temperatures, often 10–20 millikelvin (mK), to shield microwave photons from external disturbances and lengthen their lives. To generate, alter, and read quantum states, this precisely regulated system is needed.

Performance, Scalability Unseen Image SQMS has marked quantum computing milestones. Chip-based transmon qubits, a charge qubit circuit with decreased noise sensitivity, have shown consistent coherence increases and record-breaking lifetimes of over a millisecond. With the transmon chip as a central logic-capable quantum information processor and the microwave photons inside the 3D SRF cavity as random-access quantum memory, these transmon qubits form the “nerve centre” of the platform, creating a novel quantum analogue to classical computing architecture.

The longest-lived multimode superconducting QPU, with a coherence lifespan of over 20 milliseconds, is impressive. This performance is much better than standard superconducting platforms, which typically take 1 or 2 milliseconds. Over the qubit lifetime, this two-cell SRF module and superconducting transman enable 10,000 high-fidelity operations.

Yao Lu, an associate scientist at Fermilab and co-lead for QPU connectivity and transduction in SQMS, said, “We have achieved ultra-high-fidelity single-photon entangling operations between modes [>99.9%] and demonstrated the creation of high-fidelity [>95%] quantum states with large photon numbers [20 photons].” This development will enable scalable, error-resistant quantum computing.

The “pay-off is scalability,” says Fermilab senior scientist Alexander Romanenko, who leads the SQMS quantum technology development. He finds that a logic-capable transmon processor qubit can link to many cavity modes acting as memory qubits in a single-cell SRF cavity, potentially controlling over 10 qubits. As qubits increase, this new technology drastically reduces microwave channels needed for system control. Romanenko emphasises the advantages of employing quantum states in SRF cavities, which have longer coherence lengths (up to two seconds) and higher quality factors than transmons' milliseconds.

Betting on Qudits for Information Density

The SQMS bets on scalable “qudit-based” quantum computation and communication. Multilayer qudits can store more than two states, providing more information than two-state qubits. This strategy increases information processing capability with fewer quantum units, which may improve calculations. This architecture's core physics allow quantum entanglement and coherent quantum information transfer between the transmon qubit and SRF cavity discrete photon modes. SQMS scales up to a multiqudit QPU system using parallel routes and modular computation. These include:

Using a two-cell SRF cavity quantum processor and a nine-cell multimode SRF cavity as memory.

Only two-cell modules are used.

Construction materials can include custom multimodal cavities with ten or more modes.

The initial QPU prototypes will be tested and optimised by SQMS, which will quickly construct and run numerous modules while creating control systems and microwave equipment to coordinate quantum information encoding and analysis devices. Due to their lower gate count and circuit depth, qudits can aid sophisticated algorithms. Multilevel qudits describe the underlying physics better than qubits for many simulation challenges in high energy physics (HEP) and other fields, simplifying simulation operations.

High-Energy Physics to Quantum Communication

SQMS advancements affect several scientific and technological fields, including:

High Energy Physics (HEP): Centre specialists predict SQMS quantum technologies will boost present detection sensitivities by orders of magnitude, which could help identify dark matter and unknown particles. Lattice-gauge theory and neutrino oscillations are being studied on quantum computing platforms in addition to experimental applications like jet and track reconstruction during high-energy particle collisions, rare signal extraction, and exotic physics outside the Standard Model.

Quantum Communication: Researchers will use microwave photon-coherence devices with seconds of coherence. Long-range quantum communication systems require quantum memory, which this feature enables. SQMS researchers also want to show microwave-to-microwave entangled state transfer between 3D quantum systems. These cavities can also serve as low-loss conduits and “adapters” to link QPUs in different refrigerators, enabling superconducting quantum computers to develop into larger quantum data centres.

Collaboration through “Co-Design”

SQMS's success, which brought together “materials science experts, quantum device and quantum computing researchers, and high energy physics experts” from DOE laboratories, industry, academia, and other federal entities like NIST, shows its extensive collaboration. “Sustained alignment of scientific goals with technological implementation” is guaranteed by “co-design”.

The SQMS Centre's superconducting qubit performance is being improved by a nanofabrication taskforce led by NIST experts from the PML and CTL. They invented encasing niobium-based qubits in tantalum or gold to reduce material losses and improve coherence.

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