, an associate professor at the 天美传媒鈥檚 , is developing novel ways to couple light with sound, which could open new possibilities for quantum computing, high-speed networking, and dark matter detection. Renninger is selected for the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation鈥檚 , which provides mid-career researchers $1.35 million over five years to support ambitious experimental research.

Individual units of light and sound have distinct properties that scientists use in modern physics and technology for extremely precise applications. Photons鈥攑articles of light鈥攚ork well for high-speed, long-distance communication, while phonons鈥攙ibrations at their fundamental form鈥攖hrive at storing information and serving as bridges to other quantum systems.

Renninger intends to leverage the quantum properties of both light and sound to build more exact communication and sensing tools to study how matter behaves, from defects in crystals used in semiconducting materials to the limits of quantum physics.

鈥淢y lab aims to broaden how researchers use light to control and measure motion in systems that are currently hard to reach,鈥� says Renninger. 鈥淲e hope to produce better tools for optical signal processing, new ways to map hidden defects and energy loss inside materials, and experimental platforms for testing how large mechanical systems behave near the limits of quantum physics. I鈥檓 extremely grateful to the Moore Foundation for this support to our research program.鈥�

Renninger鈥檚 project will link device engineering, precision measurement, and basic physics in one program. The project will focus on creating light-driven sound devices and measurement methods that can operate across chips, surface acoustic wave devices, and bulk crystals. The projects could provide researchers new ways to generate strong, narrow-band sound responses for signal processing or evaluate sensitivity to extremely weak signals such as those expected from ultralight dark matter.

The Experimental Physics Investigators Initiative also brings together its researchers as a cohort to exchange ideas and develop new collaborations, while providing support for mentoring and professional development.

Read the of the 2026 Experimental Physics Investigators on the Moore Foundation website.

The 天美传媒 has launched its first project under the Tech Hub. The project establishes a new collaboration between and the laboratory of , Distinguished Professor in the , made possible through a Tier 2 NY THRIVE Innovation Voucher awarded via the NY SMART I-Corridor鈥檚 (C3). The award of up to $250,000 over 12 months will support joint efforts to explore advancements in next-generation computing technologies that address growing demands for performance and energy efficiency.

As the inaugural NY THRIVE project at 天美传媒, the collaboration reflects the growing momentum of the NY SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub and highlights the role of university-industry partnerships in advancing technology development, commercialization, and regional innovation.

The NY SMART I-Corridor is one of 12 federally designated Tech Hubs selected to receive implementation funding through the US Economic Development Administration鈥檚 Tech Hubs Program. Spanning Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse, the initiative aims to position Upstate New York as a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing, innovation, and workforce development. NY THRIVE (Technology Hub Resources and Innovation Vouchers for Enterprises) is a key initiative of the NY SMART I-Corridor鈥檚 C3, providing companies with innovation vouchers to access research expertise, facilities, and technical capabilities at participating universities, accelerating semiconductor technology development and commercialization.

鈥淎ccess to the 天美传媒鈥檚 research expertise, facilities, and collaborative ecosystem is helping Era73 accelerate the development of energy-efficient, ultra-fast, and resilient systems for high-end-computing.鈥�

As computing demands from artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, advanced sensing, and quantum technologies continue to accelerate, conventional semiconductor scaling is increasingly constrained by power consumption and thermal limitations. Superconducting electronics offer a promising path forward by enabling digital logic and signal processing with dramatically lower energy dissipation and extremely high switching speeds. SFQ-based architectures can operate at cryogenic temperatures with orders-of-magnitude improvements in energy efficiency compared to traditional complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) approaches for targeted workloads. This power-performance-profile makes them especially attractive for scaling future AI infrastructure, quantum computing interfaces, defense-relevant and related high-end-computing systems.

Friedman鈥檚 lab is internationally recognized for its contributions to integrated circuits, electronic design automation, and high-performance computing systems. This collaboration brings that expertise together with Era73 to commercialize innovations across the temperature hierarchy鈥攆rom room-temperature semiconductor interfaces to low-temperature electronics and deep-cryogenic superconducting logic. Developing integrated systems that can efficiently bridge these temperature domains is increasingly important for scalable high-performance computing systems, advanced sensors, and future heterogeneous computing architectures. By combining device innovation, circuit design, packaging, and systems integration, this effort aims to help establish foundational technologies for the next era of energy-efficient computing.

鈥淎ccess to the 天美传媒鈥檚 research expertise, facilities, and collaborative ecosystem is helping Era73 accelerate the development of energy-efficient, ultra-fast, and resilient systems for high-end computing,鈥� says Messac Che Neba, founder and CEO of Era73 Technologies. 鈥淥ur goal is to advance computing infrastructure that can support meaningful real-world applications, from scaling advanced AI models to deepening our understanding of human biology, enabling better treatments for diseases, such as cancer, and strengthening national defense capabilities. We are grateful to the NY SMART I-Corridor, C3, the 天美传媒, and our regional partners for supporting innovation that can help position Upstate New York as a leading hub for advanced semiconductor, AI/ML, quantum, and low-temperature computing technologies.鈥�

This collaboration between Era73 and Friedman鈥檚 laboratory represents an important step in advancing innovations in superconducting computing and semiconductor technologies. Era73 is also a client at , an affiliate of the 天美传媒 and the nonprofit business incubator and innovation hub for the Finger Lakes region.

With additional projects already in development, this award also reflects growing momentum for university-industry partnerships as the THRIVE program expands, underscoring what many see as the beginning of a broader wave of collaborative research and commercialization activity across the region. The effort has been supported by the NY SMART I-Corridor and C3, the region鈥檚 congressional delegation, and regional partners working to strengthen upstate New York鈥檚 position as a hub for advanced semiconductor technologies.

When lasers were invented in the 1960s, they opened new avenues for scientific discovery and everyday applications from scanners at the grocery store to corrective eye surgery. Conventional lasers control photons鈥攊ndividual particles of light鈥攂ut over the past 20 years, scientists have invented lasers that control other fundamental particles, including phonons鈥攊ndividual particles of vibration or sound. Controlling phonons could open even more possibilities with lasers, such as taking advantage of unique quantum properties like entanglement.

A new squeezed phonon laser developed by researchers at the and Rochester Institute of Technology provides precise control over phonons at the nanoscale level. This could give new insights into the nature of gravity, particle acceleration, and quantum physics. In in Nature Communications, the researchers describe how they coax these individual particles of mechanical motion to behave like a laser.

, the Marie C. Wilson and Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Optical Physics with the 天美传媒 , and his collaborators first demonstrated a phonon laser by trapping and levitating phonons with an optical tweezer in a vacuum in 2019. But to make this technology useful for extremely accurate measurements, they had to overcome a key obstacle fundamental to both photon and phonon lasers: noise, or unwanted disturbances that make a signal difficult to accurately read.

鈥淲hile a laser looks to the naked eye like a steady beam, there鈥檚 actually a lot of fluctuation, which causes noise when you鈥檙e using lasers for measurement,鈥� says Vamivakas. 鈥淏y pushing and pulling on a phonon laser with light in the right way, we can reduce that phonon laser fluctuation significantly.鈥�

Specifically, the researchers were able to squeeze or reduce the thermal noise intrinsic to the phonon laser. Vamivakas says that noise reduction provides the ability to measure acceleration more accurately than techniques that use photon lasers or radio frequency waves.

Vamivakas envisions researchers using the phonon laser to obtain pinpoint accurate measurements of gravity and other forces, which could be important in applications such as navigation. Scientists have envisioned quantum compasses as more accurate, 鈥渦njammable鈥� alternatives to GPS navigation that do not require the use of satellites, and Vamivakas is intrigued by seeing if the phonon laser could be a step toward such systems.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation. Vamivakas鈥� collaborators on the paper include 天美传媒 optics PhD student Kai Zhang, RIT postdoctoral researcher Kewen Xiao, and Mishkat Bhattacharya 鈥�05, a professor of physics at RIT.

The federal government is providing researchers at two Rochester-area universities funding to advance the future of sharing quantum information and further develop an experimental quantum network connecting their campuses. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is providing the 天美传媒 and $2 million to build new capabilities for the Rochester Quantum Network (RoQNET). This new funding is a direct result of Congressional support from Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, and Representative Morelle as part of the fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill.

天美传媒 and RIT installed RoQNET in 2024, and last year they demonstrated that they can securely transmit single photons from one campus to another over 11 miles of fiber-optic telecommunications lines. Sending communications using individual particles of light offers unprecedented levels of security, making them impregnable from being cloned or intercepted without detection and preventing bad actors from accessing sensitive data.

Now, the researchers are preparing for experiments to share entangled photons across the network, leveraging the strange and surprising principles of quantum mechanics that defy the laws of conventional physics.

鈥淲e want to exploit some of the more unique features of quantum mechanics and quantum optics, specifically the idea of quantum entanglement, where two particles of light can share properties no matter how far apart they are,鈥� says , the Marie C. Wilson and Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Optical Physics, who leads 鲍搁辞肠丑别蝉迟别谤鈥檚 efforts. 鈥淥ne of these entangled photon pairs will live at RIT and one will live at 天美传媒, and we aim to maintain that entanglement across RoQNET.鈥�

Vamivakas says that harnessing quantum entanglement could eventually lead to sophisticated networks of quantum computers or advanced new methods to improve the resolution of space telescopes.

While there are other experimental quantum networks across the world, Vamivakas says RoQNET offers several distinct advantages, including the ability to transmit photons over normal fiber-optic lines like those that already exist across the globe. He says RoQNET is further distinguished from other quantum networks because of 鲍搁辞肠丑别蝉迟别谤鈥檚 expertise in quantum memory hardware and RIT鈥檚 ability to create quantum photonic integrated-circuit light sources.

鈥淥ur focus with RoQNET has been on the realization of heterogeneous entanglement between different types of qubits,鈥� says Stefan Preble, RIT鈥檚 Bausch and Lomb Professor and PhD program director of microsystems engineering. 鈥淭his funding supports further research to reach the next generation in quantum networking technologies.鈥�

The funding will also enable hardware that will provide high school, undergraduate, and graduate students with some of their first opportunities to work with quantum optics and quantum networks.

鈥淲e are proud to be at the vanguard of the quantum revolution and thank Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, and Representative Morelle for their support securing crucial federal funding to make new advances in quantum communication,鈥� says 天美传媒 President Sarah Mangelsdorf. 鈥淥ur university is committing significant time, talent, and resources into advancing quantum technologies, as evidenced by our recent聽investment in the transdisciplinary Center for Coherence and Quantum Science. We are fortunate to have terrific local collaborators at RIT with whom we can combine our strengths to advance the Rochester region as a hub for advanced quantum research and innovation.鈥�

A quantum network was also recently established on Long Island, New York, between Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University. Vamivakas, who has been partnering with the researchers downstate, likens it and RoQNET to local networks and hopes to eventually connect quantum research into a statewide network, adding other facilities in New York State, including the Air Force Research Laboratory and New York University. They will need to further advance quantum repeater technology to boost signals across such large distances, but the funding provides them with important resources to try to reach that goal. New York aims to that will serve as incubators and foster the development and commercialization of quantum technologies.

Elected officials and leaders share support for RoQNET

US Senator Charles Schumer: 鈥淚 was proud to secure this funding for 天美传媒 and RIT to help develop a cutting-edge Upstate quantum network. This win-win benefits national security and boosts economic development and innovation by enabling the Rochester region to connect into similar New York-based quantum communications networks positioning New York to be a global leader in quantum communication and networking. RoQNET will stimulate quantum workforce development for K鈥�12 and college-age students and offer learning opportunities for students enrolled in the Monroe Community College Optical Technology program. Rochester is home to world-class research institutions, and this federal investment will help 天美传媒 and RIT continue advancing cutting-edge quantum networking work. I was proud to deliver this funding so Rochester鈥檚 innovators can keep pushing the boundaries of secure communications and strengthen the region鈥檚 role as a hub for advanced technology.鈥�

US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: 鈥淚 am proud to help deliver $2 million in funding for this quantum network expansion. Through the development of RoQNET, the 天美传媒 and Rochester Institute of Technology are at the forefront of quantum research. Quantum has the ability to fundamentally change how we engage in secure communications. The Rochester region remains a preeminent leader in advanced technologies and high-impact research activities, and I look forward to seeing the results of this partnership.鈥�

Congressman Joe Morelle: 鈥淨uantum technology is the next frontier of innovation, and thanks to world-class research universities like 天美传媒 and RIT, Rochester will continue to lead the way in these critical technologies. I was proud to secure funding in Washington to support RoQNET, and I cannot wait to see what they discover next.鈥�

The has awarded the 天美传媒 a $1.3 million grant for research at the forefront of how light and matter interact. The project, titled 鈥淨uantum Electrodynamics for Selective Transformations,鈥� aims to create new chemistry using quantum light. The ambitious project has the potential to unlock new opportunities for chemical and material synthesis.

鈥淲e are thrilled to receive support from the W. M. Keck Foundation that will allow us to pursue high-risk, high-reward research that we hope will open up new frontiers at the intersection of chemistry, photonics, and quantum science,” says , the Jay Last Professor in Arts, Sciences & Engineering in the and the .

Krauss leads a team of researchers that includes , the Dean and Laura Marvin Endowed Professor in Physical Chemistry and an associate professor of optics; Dan Weix at the University of Wisconsin鈥揗adison (and former faculty member at 天美传媒), and Rachel Bangle at North Carolina A&T State University.

鈥淭he work of Professor Krauss and his team is an example of Rochester鈥檚 long tradition of working across cutting-edge disciplines to advance science and improve our understanding of the physical world,鈥� says University President Sarah Mangelsdorf. 鈥淲e鈥檙e grateful for the support of the W. M. Keck Foundation in recognizing the enormous potential in this research.鈥�

Using quantum light to create new chemistry

A grand challenge in the field of chemistry is controlling chemical bond formation at any stage in a reaction.

Chemistry is governed by an established set of rules that dictate how simple molecules react with each other to form new, more complex molecules. These rules are related to how electrons are distributed in the molecules and underpin the field of synthetic chemistry. The constraints imposed by these rules have a direct impact on society because they can limit access to potential new drugs or materials. In the past, chemists have used temperature, pressure, light, and other ways to control and perform chemistry.

For the newly funded project, 天美传媒 researchers and their colleagues at other institutions seek to discover if it is possible to use the quantum light of an optical cavity to bend or break these fundamental rules of reactivity by changing how electrons are distributed. To test the idea, researchers will couple light inside an optical cavity to the electronic states of molecules, forming a hybrid light-matter state called an electron-polariton.

While polariton chemistry has the potential to alter the fundamental rules of chemical reactivity, verifying this new concept experimentally has been challenging because of the varied expertise required. To overcome that hurdle, Krauss has assembled just such a diverse team, including synthetic organic chemists, materials scientists, spectroscopists, and theoreticians, who will work to help establish this new field of research.

Krauss notes, 鈥淚t isn鈥檛 often that one has the chance to discover a new set of rules that govern the makeup of matter in the universe.鈥�

天美传媒 the Keck Foundation

The W. M. Keck Foundation was established in 1954 in Los Angeles by William Myron Keck, founder of The Superior Oil Company. One of the nation鈥檚 largest philanthropic organizations, the W. M. Keck Foundation supports outstanding science, engineering, and medical research. The foundation also supports undergraduate education and maintains a program within Southern California to support arts and culture, education, health, and community service projects.

, a professor of at the and a distinguished scientist at the University鈥檚 (LLE), is part of an international team that has been awarded a prestigious 鈧�14 million (approximately $16 million USD), six-year European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant.

The grant supports the use of multi-petawatt-class lasers and plasma accelerators to explore the non-perturbative quantum electrodynamics (NP-QED) regime, advancing our understanding of how matter behaves under the most intense electromagnetic fields ever produced on Earth.

The team also includes researchers from DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron) Research Centre in Germany, CEA Paris-Saclay (Commissariat 脿 l’茅nergie atomique et aux 茅nergies alternatives) in France, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and ELI-NP (Extreme Light Infrastructure鈥揘uclear Physics) in Romania. The project is among the most competitive research awards in Europe, with only 66 projects selected from 701 applications (a 9.4 percent success rate).

鈥楢 completely new regime of physics鈥�

The project aims to test QED鈥攖he theory describing how light and matter interact鈥攗nder unprecedentedly extreme conditions.

Using plasma accelerators and ultra-intense lasers, the team will attempt to expose ultra-relativistic electrons and positrons to electromagnetic fields exceeding the Schwinger limit, where it has been conjectured that the interaction between light and matter is much stronger than typically observed.

鈥淲e will need to develop a new theoretical approach to describe physics at these extremely high fields,鈥� Di Piazza says. 鈥淎t such intensities, QED is expected to behave as a strongly interacting theory鈥攕imilar to quantum chromodynamics鈥攚hich would open a completely new regime of physics.鈥�

The NP-QED collaboration will combine expertise in quantum electrodynamics, plasma acceleration, and laser technology. Henri Vincenti (CEA Saclay) pioneered the relativistic plasma-mirror technique to boost laser intensity by several orders of magnitude; Andreas Maier (DESY) leads the development of compact and high-quality plasma accelerators; Jenny List (DESY) is responsible for designing new detectors suitable for measuring high-flux electron, positron, and photon signals; and Di Piazza will develop theoretical models to interpret experimental results and compare them with QED predictions.

Harnessing ultra-powerful lasers

The areas of study in this NP-QED award directly align with experiments that are central to , the proposed Optical Parametric Amplifier Line user facility at LLE, sponsored by the US National Science Foundation (NSF).

Di Piazza is one of five co-principal investigators for the NSF OPAL design project, along with , a professor of optics and a distinguished scientist at LLE; Franklin Dollar from the University of California, Irvine; Eva Zurek from the University at Buffalo; and Ani Aprahamian from the University of Notre Dame. The proposed facility plans to deliver at extreme intensities.

鈥淏y scaling the results of our simulations, we expect to access the fully non-perturbative regime of quantum electrodynamics at NSF OPAL,鈥� says Di Piazza. 鈥淭his synergy between European and US facilities will drive major advances in fundamental physics, lasers, and detector technology.鈥�

鈥淒r. Di Piazza鈥檚 contributions to this collaboration exemplify the innovative spirit of the people at the 天美传媒鈥檚 Laboratory for Laser Energetics,鈥� says Zuegel, who is also project director for NSF OPAL and division director of laser materials and technologies at LLE. 鈥淗is theoretical leadership will deepen our understanding of the universe while advancing next-generation laser-driven science.鈥�

鈥淭his ERC Synergy Grant is a testament to the world-class research being conducted at the 天美传媒,鈥� says , director of LLE. 鈥淒r. Di Piazza鈥檚 involvement underscores Rochester鈥檚 central role in global collaborations that push the frontiers of physics鈥攆rontiers that will be illuminated through advanced laser technologies such as the European Extreme Light Infrastructure and the future NSF OPAL capability.鈥�

Exploring nature鈥檚 extremes

鲍搁辞肠丑别蝉迟别谤鈥檚 is internationally recognized for its research in high-intensity laser physics, quantum optics, condensed matter, astrophysics, and particle physics. The department maintains strong partnerships with national and international laboratories, training students to lead at the forefront of discovery.

For , the Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor in the department and a leading expert in theoretical astrophysics, the grant represents an opportunity to explore realms of physics that were once out of reach.

鈥淭he limits of how light and matter behave represent domains we鈥檝e never been able to probe experimentally before,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his new grant will allow researchers from the 天美传媒, coupled with an international team, to push the envelope and probe a new and critical scientific frontier. The new studies it allows will reveal aspects of the most extreme cosmic environments and uncover secrets hiding at the edges of known physics. It is fitting that the LLE is part of this groundbreaking research since it continues to define the cutting edge of using ultra-high-powered lasers to probe how light and matter behave together at nature鈥檚 extremes.鈥�

, an associate professor of physics and chair of the department, agrees that the grant opens a new era of exploration that brings cosmic-scale physics into the laboratory.

鈥淲e are entering a new frontier where we can study these exotic physics in the lab,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his grant is very exciting, because it will lay the theoretical groundwork for the experiments in the next decade.鈥�

天美传媒 the ERC Synergy Grant

The (ERC) is Europe鈥檚 premier funding body for frontier research. ERC Synergy Grants support small teams of outstanding scientists working together across disciplines to address complex scientific problems. Each project is selected for its potential to make transformative contributions to its field.

Three scientists received the for demonstrating that quantum effects鈥攕pecifically, quantum tunneling鈥攃an appear in larger, visible systems, not just tiny particles. They achieved this using superconducting circuits, which are large enough to be seen by the naked eye yet still exhibit quantum behavior. The discovery reveals that the quantum world and classical world aren鈥檛 as separate as once believed, showing that the strange rules governing atoms can also apply to macroscopic systems big enough to hold in your hand. This insight not only deepens an understanding of nature, but also lays the groundwork for quantum technology, including the development of quantum computers.

At the , researchers are exploring the same quantum phenomena highlighted by the Nobel Prize鈥搘inning work, both to study fundamental physics and to develop new quantum technologies.

鈥淔or a long time, the physics community thought quantum effects were limited to individual particles like single electrons or atoms,鈥� says , an assistant professor in the . 鈥淭he experiments that won the Nobel Prize showed us that quantum effects can appear in much larger systems, which blurs the boundary between quantum and classical physics.鈥�

Blok鈥檚 lab creates superconducting circuits with qudits, which are quantum computing units that can exist in multiple states at once. In these circuits, electrons can 鈥渢unnel鈥� through barriers, allowing qudits to occupy two or more states simultaneously, a key property for building quantum computers. In other words, Blok鈥檚 research uses the same fundamental physics recognized by the 2025 Nobel Prize to build larger-scale quantum systems that can perform computations impossible for classical devices.

鈥淨uantum tunneling is at the core of everything we do,鈥� Blok says.

What is 鈥渕acroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling鈥�?

The Nobel Committee awarded John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis the 2025 Nobel for 鈥渢he discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electric circuit.鈥� To explain quantum tunneling, Blok turns to the classic metaphor of a child throwing a ball at a wall. According to the laws of classical physics, if the ball hits the wall, it bounces back. It can鈥檛 pass through unless the child throws it hard enough to go over or break the wall.

In quantum mechanics, however, particles behave not just as solid objects but also as waves of probability that can spread out. For very small particles such as electrons, this wave-like nature means that part of the wave can sometimes slip through the wall and appear on the other side of a barrier. The result is quantum tunneling, a phenomenon where particles can occasionally pass through barriers they seemingly shouldn鈥檛 be able to cross, according to classical physics.

Normally objects such as a ball are too big to behave like a quantum particle. But the research conducted by the 2025 Nobel laureates showed that this kind of quantum behavior can appear not only in tiny, subatomic particles but also in larger objects made of many particles.

鈥淚n essence, they built a big Schrodinger鈥檚 cat,鈥欌�� Blok says, referencing the famous thought experiment in which a cat can be simultaneously alive and dead鈥攁 metaphor for a system that exists in multiple states at once.

A Nobel demonstration

At 天美传媒, Blok and his team use superconducting circuits to explore fundamental quantum behavior and develop new quantum technologies, including steps toward quantum computers and ultra-secure quantum communication networks.

鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to use quantum effects to make quantum computers,鈥� Blok says. 鈥淭he physical mechanisms we use, namely superconducting circuits and tunneling, are closely related to the Nobel Prize research. It鈥檚 a way of turning quantum systems into quantum information.鈥�

Beyond its promise for technological advances, Blok says one of the most exciting aspects of the Nobel research is that it highlights the power of curiosity-driven science; the original experiments, conducted in the 1980s, were motivated not with practical applications in mind but by a desire to understand physics and nature.

鈥淲hat is amazing to me is that these scientists were driven by very simple fundamental questions, without imagining all the ways their research could be used,鈥� Blok says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a beautiful sentiment that curiosity can lead to deep answers about nature and to unimaginable possibilities.鈥�

In the past, chemists have used temperature, pressure, light, and other chemical ways to speed up or slow down chemical reactions.

Now, researchers at the have developed a theory that explains a different way to control chemical reactions鈥攐ne that doesn鈥檛 rely on heat or light but instead on the quantum environment surrounding the molecules.

In published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the researchers鈥攊ncluding , the Dean and Laura Marvin Endowed Professor in Physical Chemistry in Rochester鈥檚 and graduate students Sebastian Montillo and Wenxiang Ying鈥攁rgue that traditional theories used to predict how fast chemical reactions occur may not fully capture what happens under certain quantum light-matter interaction conditions. To address this, they developed a new theory showing how quantum effects鈥攕pecifically, an effect called vibrational strong coupling (VSC)鈥攃an influence chemical reactions.

This phenomenon has been observed in experiments, but the new theory helps clarify how it works and could pave the way for more precise, energy-efficient chemical processes, with potential applications in manufacturing, medicine, and advanced materials.

鈥淥ur work may provide the first-ever theory that describes the experimentally observed phenomena,” Huo says. 鈥淚t tells us that the quantum environment alone can influence chemistry in ways we didn鈥檛 think were possible and opens the door for new materials and technologies.鈥�

Solving a quantum chemistry puzzle

In 2016, a group of scientists discovered something surprising: They were able to change how fast a chemical reaction occurs by putting the reacting molecules in a tiny space between two gold mirrors, only millionths of a meter apart. This created an environment鈥攃alled an optical microcavity鈥攚here the quantum energy and electromagnetic fields in the space itself could couple with the natural vibrations of the molecules and slow down or speed up the chemical reactions between the molecules. The effect is called vibrational strong coupling.

Since then, VSC has baffled researchers.

For the past five years, Huo and his colleagues have been developing a theory that explains the phenomenon so that VSC can be understood, utilized, and controlled. Using computer simulations and quantum mechanics principles, they developed their new theory, which explains why the VSC effect happens or doesn鈥檛 happen, how changing the strength of the interaction changes the speed of the reaction, and what it could mean for the future of chemistry.

鈥淭his was like solving a challenging jigsaw puzzle, where all of the puzzling features of VSC finally fit neatly together,鈥� Huo says. 鈥淭his new strategy of VSC can selectively slow down or speed up a reaction, offering a paradigm shift in synthetic chemistry that could significantly impact drug development and materials synthesis.鈥�

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation supported this research.

Quantum computers have the potential to revolutionize computing by solving complex problems that stump even today鈥檚 fastest machines. Scientists are exploring whether quantum computers could one day help streamline global supply chains, create ultra-secure encryption to protect sensitive data against even the most powerful cyberattacks, or even develop more effective drugs by simulating their behavior at the atomic level.

But building efficient quantum computers isn鈥檛 just about developing faster chips or better hardware. It also requires a deep understanding of quantum mechanics鈥攖he strange rules that govern the tiniest building blocks of our universe such as atoms and electrons鈥攁nd how to effectively move information through quantum systems.

In a paper published in , a team of physicists鈥攊ncluding graduate student Elizabeth Champion and assistant professor from the 鈥檚 鈥攐utlined a method to address a tricky problem in quantum computing: how to efficiently move information within a multi-level system using quantum units called qudits.

鈥淓fficiently controlling a qudit processor has been a long-standing challenge,鈥� says Champion, the paper鈥檚 first author. 鈥淭he methods we developed allow the core operations of a qudit-based quantum computer to be performed in far fewer steps, making full use of the hardware. This can potentially enable quantum computations and simulations that were not possible before.鈥�

Inside Hilbert space鈥攁ka the quantum matrix

In the 1999 sci-fi movie The Matrix, the main character Neo sees the world not as physical objects such as streets and skyscrapers but as a stream of 1s and 0s鈥攖he raw data underlying his reality. In quantum physics, there is a similar underlying framework beneath the familiar world of particles and forces. This matrix is called Hilbert space.

In classical computers, information lives in specific places on a chip. But in quantum computers, information isn鈥檛 tied to a specific location. Instead, it lives in the more abstract world of Hilbert space, a massive mathematical landscape. Here, particles aren鈥檛 just tiny dots zipping around but also abstract waves of probability, existing in many locations and states at once. Although Hilbert space is not something you can see or locate in the physical computer chip, it鈥檚 where the computational power of quantum computing happens.

鈥淭he mathematical structure that we use to represent a state of a quantum computer and a calculation is literally a matrix,鈥� Blok says. 鈥淭he goal for a quantum computer is to efficiently move information around in that matrix.鈥�

Beyond bits and qubits

Moving information through the abstract mathematical landscape of Hilbert space is no small feat. To do this, scientists rely on quantum building blocks called qubits鈥攁nd, more powerfully, qudits.

While classical computers transport information using billions of tiny switches called bits, quantum computers typically move information through Hilbert space using qubits鈥攓uantum bits that can exist in multiple states at once. In classical systems, each bit is either a 鈥�0鈥� (off) or a 鈥�1鈥� (on). Qubits, however, are governed by the strange laws of quantum mechanics and can be both 鈥�0鈥� and 鈥�1鈥� at the same time.

But even qubits have their limits. Blok likens qubits to 鈥渂uilding a sprawling city with too many roads, such as Los Angeles.鈥� His research introduces a fundamentally different approach to moving information within Hilbert space using qudits, which can store more information in a single location. In other words, qudits go beyond 鈥�0s鈥� and 鈥�1s鈥� and might have three or more states (鈥�0,鈥� 鈥�1,鈥� 鈥�2,鈥� etc.) in which to encode information. This makes the architecture more like 鈥渁 dense, high-rise city such as New York,鈥� he says.

The new method developed by Blok and Champion employs 鈥渢he largest qudit and the most efficient method to operate it,鈥� Blok says. The method is inspired by nuclear magnetic resonance, a technique that uses magnetic fields to manipulate a quantum property of particles called 鈥渟pins.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 like connecting all the floors of a high-rise building simultaneously,鈥� Blok says. 鈥淏y tapping into techniques from big-spin physics, we’ve discovered a much more efficient way to route quantum information within each qudit, potentially unlocking faster, more scalable quantum computers with far fewer operational bottlenecks.鈥�