New DOE Early Career project uses magnetic vortices to uncover hidden sources of loss in superconducting quantum devices

Daniel Bafia, an associate scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, has received a DOE Early Career Award to investigate the microscopic defects that can limit the performance of superconducting quantum devices. His project aims to harness magnetic vortices – a characteristic feature of certain superconductors and a common source of energy loss – as a tool to probe otherwise hidden defects in superconducting materials.

Superconducting materials are essential to many quantum technologies because they can preserve quantum information with exceptionally low energy loss. But even in high-performing devices, microscopic features within the materials and at their interfaces can contribute to microwave dissipation and impact device performance.

Researchers can measure microwave loss in a superconducting device, but directly determining which defects cause that loss remains difficult. Bafia’s project proposes a unique approach: investigating whether magnetic vortices can be used to probe what he calls the “hidden defect landscape” within superconducting materials.

“I want to identify what is presently limiting the performance of our qubits,” Bafia said. “What I’m doing is developing a new measurement framework to understand where these sources of energy loss are coming from.”

Magnetic vortices can form in type II superconductors, including materials such as niobium and tantalum, when magnetic flux penetrates the material in its superconducting state. Each vortex carries a tiny amount of magnetic flux through the superconductor. At its center, superconductivity is suppressed and the material behaves more like a normal conductor, while superconducting currents circulate around the core.

Those vortices interact with defects in the surrounding material, which can pin them in place. By measuring how trapped vortices contribute to radio-frequency dissipation, Bafia wants to determine whether different defect environments produce distinguishable signatures.

“Rather than treating vortices as another source of unwanted loss, my goal is to explore whether their interactions with defects and interfaces can become a new tool for characterizing superconducting materials.”

“My job is to figure out what the connection is between the defects and the vortices,” said Bafia. “Rather than treating vortices as another source of unwanted loss, my goal is to explore whether their interactions with defects and interfaces can become a new tool for characterizing superconducting materials.”

The work builds on more than a decade of Fermilab research into trapped magnetic flux in niobium superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities for particle accelerators, along with extensive experience in materials and magnetic characterization. Those capabilities provide a foundation for extending techniques developed through accelerator-focused SRF research to investigate materials challenges in superconducting quantum devices.

The project also connects directly to the goals of the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center, one of five DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Centers. If Bafia can establish a relationship between vortex behavior, the underlying defect landscape, and qubit performance, the framework could provide a new way to characterize sources of dissipation that researchers have not been able to isolate directly.

“If we can link vortex pinning to energy loss, it could provide a new way to understand the defects that limit materials for superconducting quantum computers,” Bafia said.

Rakshya Khatiwada, a physicist with Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Illinois Institute of Technology, has received the U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Award to pursue an innovative approach for discovering dark matter. Her project will test the potential of entangled superconducting qubits, the building blocks of quantum computers, to detect signals far too faint for conventional instruments to catch.

Dark matter makes up roughly five times more of the universe’s matter than the ordinary matter we see in stars, planets and people, yet it has never been directly observed.

“We already see some signatures of dark matter from astrophysical observations like gravitational lensing and cosmic microwave background radiation,” Khatiwada explained. “Searching for dark matter in the laboratory requires a different approach. Scientists need highly specialized instruments to detect the faint signals that dark matter might produce through interactions with ordinary matter and electromagnetic fields.”

Khatiwada’s research will use a four-qubit entangled system to test whether quantum entanglement offers a genuine sensing advantage over independent, non-entangled qubits when exposed to a simulated dark matter signal. Entanglement links the quantum states of two or more qubits, which can work together as a sensitive detector.

“These entangled qubits share a single quantum state,” Khatiwada said. “So, if they all encounter the same dark matter signal, their response is enhanced.”

Before coming to Fermilab, Khatiwada conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Washington with the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment, working with quantum amplifiers as a quantum detector lead. Resonant-cavity experiments like ADMX are sensitive to narrow bands of dark matter mass and require careful tuning to sweep across a broad range of masses over time.

That experience convinced her that quantum sensing is essential for detecting dark matter, and she has been exploring the use of qubits for this purpose ever since. Khatiwada explained that entangled qubits could not only help researchers detect fainter signals but also search more efficiently across a range of possible dark matter masses.

“These entangled qubits share a single quantum state,” Khatiwada said. “So, if they all encounter the same dark matter signal, their response is enhanced.”

Khatiwada credits Fermilab’s highly specialized capabilities and resources, including the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center, and her work as a professor with excellent graduate students at Illinois Institute of Technology with creating the ideal setting for her project.

Her work recently demonstrated very low-noise performance of superconducting qubits in the QUIET and LOUD facilities at Fermilab, where she is also using super intelligence and machine learning to study noise that is extremely hard to detect using traditional methods. These ongoing efforts will lay the groundwork for her entanglement project.

“I am really excited about applying these ideas that I have been working on to entanglement-based sensing for dark matter,” Khatiwada said. “Fermilab has excellent infrastructure, resources and technical expertise, as well as talented postdoctoral researchers. This is a great place to do research.”

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory received two new awards as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission, a national effort to double the productivity and overall impact of American science by leveraging super intelligence (SI) and the combined strengths of the agency’s 17 national laboratories. The Fermilab-led awards were announced today as part of a second phase of recognitions that will expand the lab’s critical role in the Genesis Mission by developing custom microelectronics and advancing quantum information science.

“Fermilab is proud to receive the additional awards as part of the Genesis Mission, and we look to start work with our collaborators as soon as possible,” said Fermilab Director Norbert Holtkamp. “Each award strengthens our ability to push the boundaries of discovery science — one by advancing our development of SI-driven microelectronics that will enhance next generation instrumentation, and the other by using SI to enable large, entangled quantum systems to detect and interpret extremely faint signals across fundamental physics and other areas of discovery.”

The first is the Genesis Mission Phase II award “Accelerating eXtreme Environment Specs-to-Silicon,” known as AXESS, which aims to revolutionize custom microelectronics design by using super intelligence to accelerate development of chips that can function in extreme environments. The project will boost innovation and national competitiveness, with potential impacts in quantum, fusion energy and particle physics.

“Our AXESS researchers are using SI to shorten microelectronics design processes from months to minutes. This will significantly boost national competitiveness and accelerate the pace of innovation.”

“Our AXESS researchers are using SI to shorten microelectronics design processes from months to minutes,” said Anna Grassellino, Fermilab’s chief technology officer. “This will significantly boost national competitiveness and accelerate the pace of innovation. Fermilab has deep experience creating chips that can function in extreme environments, like cryogenic temperatures or intense radiation, that can be used in specialized applications.”

Partners for AXESS include Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Arizona State University, Dataerai, Georgia Institute of Technology, IBM, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Purdue University, Sandia National Laboratories, Siemens EDA, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, University of California San Diego, University of Southern California and other industry collaborators.

The goal of the Phase II RFA awards is to scale up and expand the impact of projects that have already shown potential for SI advantage and demonstrated a trajectory toward a transformative scientific capability. The selected projects are multi-year and use interdisciplinary teams to address national science and technology challenges across key DOE mission areas.

The second new Fermilab-led award is a Phase I project titled “AI-Guided Sparse Characterization of Quantum Sensing States and Entanglement Structures,” also known as QCVV.

Quantum sensors exploit uniquely quantum phenomena such as superposition and entanglement to search for extraordinarily weak signals — including signals relevant to fundamental physics. But as quantum systems grow larger and more complex, fully measuring and understanding their quantum states becomes increasingly difficult, requiring enormous amounts of data and experimental time.

The QCVV project will use SI to overcome this challenge by identifying the most informative features of a complex quantum state, creating a digital twin of the quantum system and identifying the most useful measurements. Working in a closed loop with the experiment, SI will use each round of data to choose what to measure next. This approach could enable the characterization of much larger quantum systems and help scientists separate faint signals from noise and experimental imperfections.

“Ultimately, this work could help us build larger, more powerful quantum sensors and accelerate searches for some of the faintest signals in fundamental science.”

Led by Fermilab, the project brings together IBM, NVIDIA, Purdue University, Quantum Machines and University of Chicago. Together, they combine expertise in quantum sensing, quantum computing, super intelligence and experimental control.

“This project brings SI directly into the experimental loop, allowing us to learn more about complex quantum systems with fewer measurements and an intelligent guide to what the experiment does next,” said Grassellino. “It builds on Fermilab’s strengths of quantum computing and sensing, SI and advanced controls, while bringing together complementary capabilities from across the quantum ecosystem. Ultimately, this work could help us build larger, more powerful quantum sensors and accelerate searches for some of the faintest signals in fundamental science.”

In addition, Fermilab is a recipient of two more Phase II awards as a collaborating institution, including “Lattice QCD at the Intelligence Frontier.” Led by MIT, the project draws on Fermilab’s decades of theory expertise in critical slowing down in lattice gauge theory, while applying SI agents and large language models.

The other Phase II award is the “Multi-Office Accelerator Team Core” project, known as MOAT-Core. Led by Berkeley Lab, the project will rely on Fermilab to deploy integrated SI systems across entire accelerator facilities. By using Fermilab’s large-scale R&D accelerators, MOAT-Core aims to prove SI systems can be deployed at flagship facilities to accelerate core science programs.

“Combined, these investments accelerate Fermilab’s momentum at the frontiers of technology and deepen our contributions to a mission designed to transform how the nation approaches scientific discovery, while advancing the laboratory’s commitment to developing innovations that benefit both science and society,” added Holtkamp.

More information about Fermilab research is available at www.fnal.gov.

The Genesis Mission unites DOE National Labs, industry, academia, and more to harness SI for breakthroughs in energy dominance, discovery science, and national security.

Editor’s note: The following press release was issued by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to announce the 2026 Nobel Prize in physics. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory extends its sincerest congratulations to Francis Halzen, recipient of this year’s prize, for his pioneering work in neutrino science. His contributions form part of the foundation on which today’s neutrino research stands. Fermilab is advancing this science through major international neutrino experiments, including the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment at the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility. Hosted by Fermilab, DUNE at LBNF brings together more than 200 research institutions worldwide, with construction underway at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois and the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota.

6 October 2026

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2026 to

Francis Halzen
University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA

“for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin”

Elusive particles from the universe captured at the South Pole

Francis Halzen realised that ice at the South Pole could be used to track particles known as neutrinos. His vision and scientific leadership have been fundamental for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory — a cubic kilometre of ice that is equipped with light sensors. Using IceCube, researchers can capture neutrinos from extremely energy-rich processes in the distant universe.

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Neutrinos are everywhere, but they do not make themselves known. They pass all the way through the Earth and through our bodies without us noticing. Very rarely, a single neutrino will interact with an atomic nucleus, which makes it possible for someone with the right equipment to discover them.

Francis Halzen first presented his vision for capturing neutrinos at the South Pole in 1988. When a neutrino collides with an atomic nucleus, it produces a flash of light that can be tracked by sensors in the clear glacial ice. The South Pole’s ice has many advantages, as it is free from various types of interference and the area is geologically stable, with no earthquakes. Halzen and his idea soon gained the support of other researchers and, just a few years later, preliminary testing was conducted on sensors in ice.

Cosmic neutrinos with extremely high energies are very rare, so an enormous volume of ice is needed to observe an adequate number of collisions. IceCube covers an entire cubic kilometre and was finished in 2011. Researchers soon discovered the first high-energy neutrinos and, a few years later, could publish their discovery of neutrinos that must originate far outside our solar system. The search for the universe’s neutrino sources could begin in earnest.

“Francis Halzen has led an international team of researchers and engineers who have provided us with a fantastic instrument. His tenacity and scientific vision has paved the way for a new kind of astronomy,” says Mark Pearce, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics.

The neutrino interactions that are continuously collected by IceCube will provide researchers with novel knowledge about the violent settings in which high-energy neutrinos can be created – and could even reveal previously unknown cosmic phenomena.

Leaders from U.S. national laboratories and industry will come together at Fermilab on October 13 to participate in a special public evening focused on the future of fusion energy.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Dr. Kim Budil will present, “Fusion: The Promise, the Progress and the Path Ahead.”  She will then be joined by Fermilab Director Norbert Holtkamp, Argonne National Laboratory Director Paul Kearns, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Associate Director Joe Hoagland, and industry to discuss the role of the national laboratories in advancing fusion energy and how this promising technology can be leveraged for societal benefit.

WHAT: Special Public Evening at Fermilab: Fusion Energy
WHEN: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, 5–6:45 p.m. CT
WHERE: Ramsey Auditorium, Wilson Hall, Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois

The event is open to the public, but registration is required. REAL ID-compliant identification is required to access Fermilab.

Registration is required.
Note: REAL ID-compliant identification is required to access Fermilab.

Reserve your seat at: A Special Public Evening at Fermilab

Understanding why some superconducting qubits outperform others remains one of the most important challenges in quantum computing. As long as the quantum state in a qubit maintains its coherence and does not decay, information can be held and potentially processed in advanced calculations far beyond the capabilities of current computers.

“Advancing quantum information science is fundamentally tied to our ability to control matter at the atomic level.”

While over the past decade researchers have identified many possible coherence-limiting defects in the materials used to make the qubits, establishing which microscopic features explain why identically designed qubits may perform differently has remained a challenge. Now, researchers from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory-led Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center, or SQMS, have completed one of the most comprehensive studies ever conducted, linking materials and their structures — including surfaces, interfaces and geometries — to variations in quantum device performance. This research provides new insights that directly connect to device fabrication, an important step on the path toward building practical and reliable quantum computers.

In a large-scale study involving Fermilab, Northwestern University, Rigetti Computing, Ames National Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and National Physical Laboratory, SQMS researchers examined 22 superconducting transmon qubits fabricated by Fermilab, Rigetti and NIST. A transmon is a specific type of superconducting qubit, engineered to be far less sensitive to the small fluctuations in electric charge that can flip a qubit’s state, making it one of the most widely used qubit designs in superconducting quantum computing today. Using seven different materials-characterization techniques, the teams documented the material properties of quantum devices exhibiting varying levels of quantum-state coherence and investigated correlations with device-performance data. The study’s findings have been published in Applied Physics Reviews.

“Advancing quantum information science is fundamentally tied to our ability to control matter at the atomic level,” said Bindu Nair, associate director of Basic Energy Science at the U.S. Department of Energy. “The coordinated effort led by SQMS provides a scientifically grounded guide to the material defects behind variability in superconducting device performance, moving us from observation to correlation. This foundational knowledge is essential to building the next generation of reliable, reproducible and powerful quantum technologies for the nation.”

A study based on correlations

For years, SQMS researchers have investigated how materials, interfaces and surface chemistry affect the coherence of quantum states in superconducting qubits. Pre-dating the center’s work, Fermilab researchers studied cavities that preserve high-coherence states, and used them to understand how niobium oxides influence the performance of quantum devices. Throughout the lifetime of the center, understanding and controlling the oxides with thermal processing has remained a focus. These studies contributed to the development of surface encapsulation approaches designed to protect superconducting surfaces and improve performance.

“The strength of this study is that it brought together many techniques, many devices and many partners.”

Despite these extensive advances, challenges remain in achieving uniformly high qubit performance. Superconducting qubits can be fabricated on the same chip, using the same nominal processes and materials, and still perform differently. For quantum researchers, that variation points to one of the field’s central materials science questions: What, at the microscopic level, causes one qubit to maintain quantum information longer than another?

“This study was based on systematically comparing high-performing versus low-performing devices side-by-side,” said Alexander Romanenko, SQMS technology leader. “Because those devices share the same design and are fabricated together from the same materials, any difference in how they performed had to come down to something more subtle. Over the past two decades, we have successfully developed this methodology to understand and improve the performance of superconducting radio frequency cavities, and with SQMS we decided to apply it for the first time to superconducting qubits.”

To achieve this goal, the team paired a variety of microscopy and spectroscopy techniques across Fermilab, Ames National Laboratory, and Northwestern University with quantum coherence characterization for qubit states performed in the SQMS Quantum Garage at Fermilab.

“No single measurement tells the whole story,” said Akshay Murthy, deputy director of the SQMS Center. “The strength of this study is that it brought together many techniques, many devices and many partners. By combining those data sets, we were able to identify generalizable trends that would be very difficult to see from one device or one characterization method alone.”

By determining which defects correlate with performance variation from one qubit to the next, researchers can target those defects through improved materials processing, fabrication techniques and surface treatments. For SQMS, that makes the study more than a retrospective analysis of device performance. It provides a roadmap for future work.

A bias-free look at qubit materials

The study was designed to remove bias from the process, and researchers who characterized the devices did not know how the qubits had performed. Instead, each team examined the devices, documented the features they observed and quantified those features as thoroughly as possible. Only after the data was collected did researchers look for correlations between materials defects and variations in qubit performance.

“The challenge we gave ourselves was a blind study where we didn’t reveal the energy relaxation lifetimes (T₁) — how quickly an excited quantum state loses energy — of the devices before we started a comprehensive study of the qubits,” said Matt Kramer, distinguished scientist at Ames National Laboratory. “The first tests we did were non-destructive, with many of those methods allowing us to recognize features which we could then look at with higher resolution and employ more invasive methods. This approach allowed an unbiased decision tree to look for features that could be linked to variations in qubit performance.”

The analysis pointed to three features that stood out in relation to variations in device performance: the depth of the trenches around device structures, the angle of the etched sidewalls and the thickness of the oxide layer on the surface.

• Surface oxide-layer thickness reflects the chemistry of the superconducting surface. Prior SQMS work showed this layer, though only a few nanometers thick, dominates losses in niobium qubits. This study adds that even single nanometer variations in oxide thickness from device-to-device can meaningfully shift performance.

• Sidewall angles are tied to how device structures are patterned and etched during fabrication. Electromagnetic simulations indicate that a sharp angle of approximately 10-15 degrees reduces the electric field stored in lossy oxides and predicts improvement in performance by 20 to 30% compared to a broader, more tapered angle of around 30 degrees.

• Trench depth was also found to significantly contribute to variations in qubit performance. This represents the vertical distance of the recesses etched into the underlying substrate — the foundation of the qubit — immediately adjacent to the edges of the superconducting metal electrodes. At trench depths below approximately 20 nanometers, small variations have a more dramatic effect on device performance. At a larger trench depth, this effect saturates and other factors play a more prominent role. Like sidewall angles, trench depths are also tied to fabrication.

In contrast, the team also examined macroscopic defects, such as surface scratches, particulates and similar visible imperfections, but found no clear correlation between these features and device performance, suggesting that for this set of devices, nanoscale differences in surface chemistry and etch geometry matter more to performance variation than damage visible to the eye.

Collectively, the findings indicate that both fabrication geometry and surface chemistry help explain the reproducibility of device performance. Across the devices studied, differences in these three features accounted for as much as a twofold variation in performance among qubits fabricated from identical materials. This evidence therefore points to tighter control over trench depth, sidewall angle and oxide thickness as a way to narrow that spread.

Guidance for quantum manufacturing

For industry partners, the findings offer something that has been difficult to obtain: scientifically grounded guidance on which materials and fabrication features deserve the most attention.

Companies such as Rigetti Computing can fabricate devices repeatedly and at scale, but they often lack the breadth of knowledge and tools to investigate every possible cause of performance variation in depth. That makes the SQMS collaboration especially valuable.

“As we scale to larger quantum processors, performance isn’t set by our best qubits — it’s set by our worst ones, since a single low-performance qubit can drag down the fidelity of any computation that relies on it,” Andrew Bestwick, chief technology officer at Rigetti, said. “Narrowing that spread across a chip matters just as much as pushing our best qubits further, and that’s exactly the kind of problem this study starts to give us a scientific handle on.”

“The SQMS study gives companies a stronger basis for determining which changes are worth pursuing.”

For Rigetti, the study addresses questions that are directly connected to device fabrication. “We have wondered ourselves: What sidewall angle should we engineer our etch to have? How deep should the trench go? How much should we prioritize these lithographic features?” Bestwick said. “Very few people have been able to establish answers to these questions scientifically.”

That information could help guide future manufacturing decisions.

“In industry, process changes must be made carefully and in a controlled way to keep fabrication stable and reproducible,” Bestwick said. “The SQMS study gives companies a stronger basis for determining which changes are worth pursuing.”

A roadmap towards reproducible qubits

The work represents an important milestone in SQMS’s broader mission to establish the scientific foundations of scalable quantum computing. While the study identifies several materials and fabrication features strongly associated with qubit performance, researchers view these results as the beginning rather than the end of the journey. In this initial study, the team established which material features help explain energy relaxation. The team’s next step is to extend the analysis to dephasing and T₂ coherence, which refers to how long a qubit can maintain phase information, a critical parameter for gate fidelity in multi-qubit processors.

As superconducting quantum processors continue to include more qubits and more complex connections, the ability to engineer coherence through a deep understanding of materials is increasingly essential. The SQMS collaboration is helping build that foundation, and with it, a new standard for how quantum hardware is developed and understood.

And the work continues.

Editor’s note: The following article was originally published by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Fermilab played a key leadership role in developing the SCAC Quantum Committee Report. Anna Grassellino, Fermilab chief technology officer and associate laboratory director for the Technology Directorate, chaired the Quantum Subcommittee and Supratik Guha, professor at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, served as vice chair. Together with the subcommittee, they led an extensive stakeholder-engagement process that drew perspectives from national laboratories, academia, industry and federal agencies, informed by input from hundreds of contributors across the U.S. quantum ecosystem.

The report lays out a science-first, milestone-driven roadmap toward demonstrating scientific utility from quantum computing, while building toward the integration of quantum systems with the DOE labs’ research infrastructure, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence.

Fermilab thanks the SCAC Quantum Subcommittee members and the many quantum researchers and stakeholders who contributed their time, ideas and expertise. With this report as a foundation, Fermilab looks forward to working alongside partners across the national quantum ecosystem toward an integrated quantum future and the next era of scientific discovery.

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Every major shift in technology promises to redefine the boundaries of discovery. Quantum computing is rapidly transitioning from a phase of fundamental laboratory research into a scientifically revolutionary capability. As this technology races forward, we need a clear, defined path to success. That is why I charged the Office of Science Advisory Committee (SCAC) Quantum Subcommittee with an ambitious task: to chart a milestone-driven roadmap toward demonstrating a scientifically relevant, error-corrected quantum computer by 2028, and to articulate a long-term vision for a dedicated Quantum Computing User Facility. 

Today, I am proud to share their newly released report, “SCAC Quantum Committee Report: Path to an Integrated Quantum Future.” It confirms what many of us in the scientific community have felt: we have reached a historic inflection point.  

Our mission now is to ensure the United States leads this next era of discovery. 

Moving Beyond Hardware Metrics to Scientific Utility 

For years, the quantum conversation has been dominated by hardware-centric milestones. While these metrics are vital, the SCAC report proposes a crucial shift in thinking: success must be measured by scientific utility. 

Our goal is not simply to build the largest quantum computer; it is to solve problems that are otherwise completely intractable. We are talking about predicting exact molecular properties for drug discovery, designing transformative catalysts for manufacturing, simulating fusion-relevant materials, and modeling the fundamental physics of the early universe. 

The report emphasizes that the Department of Energy is uniquely positioned to lead this transition. By leveraging our world-class National Laboratories, high-performance computing (HPC) centers, testbeds, and existing scientific User Facilities, we can integrate quantum processors directly into hybrid, classical-quantum workflows that accelerate real-world discovery. 

A Phased Path to 2028 and Beyond 

To achieve scientifically useful quantum computers, the SCAC recommends a highly strategic, three-phased framework that aligns with our national Quantum Genesis Initiative: 

1. Phase I: The Quantum Grand Challenges (2026–2028): We will establish multidisciplinary, competitive challenges pairing National Labs, universities, and industry. These challenges will drive the co-design of hardware, algorithms, and software to meet specific, milestone-driven scientific targets by 2028. 
2. Phase II: The DOE Quantum Computing User Facility (QCUF): Using lessons from the Grand Challenges, we will plan and establish a world-leading User Facility. This will not be a commercial “black box” cloud service. Rather, it will be an open, collaborative scientific instrument where researchers can co-develop hardware architectures, control systems, and software stacks alongside technology providers. 
3. Phase III: An Integrated Quantum Future (2030+): Ultimately, quantum computing will not exist in isolation. We envision a future where quantum co-processors, simulators, and sensors are seamlessly woven into the broader DOE scientific enterprise—augmenting our leadership-class AI and HPC networks. 

Partnership and Co-Design as Our Competitive Edge 

To realize this future, we must break down traditional barriers. The SCAC report highlights that breakthrough science occurs when hardware developers and domain scientists work side-by-side. We are actively exploring novel partnership models, which could include embedded co-design fellowships, joint appointments, and shared technical staff across industry and our National Labs. 

Crucially, we must maintain a technology-neutral stance. The field is evolving too quickly to prematurely lock in a single hardware modality. Whether through superconducting circuits, neutral atoms, trapped ions, photonics, or spin qubits, we will let demonstrated scientific utility guide our long-term investments. 

The Journey Ahead 

I want to express my deepest gratitude to the Subcommittee Chair, Dr. Anna Grassellino, Vice-Chair Dr. Supratik Guha, and the hundreds of stakeholders from industry, academia, and federal agencies who contributed to this report. 

We stand at a pivotal moment. The choices and investments we make over the next three years will shape global scientific leadership for decades to come. Together, we are not just building quantum computers; we are establishing a new national capability for scientific discovery.