U of I professors help usher in Illinois’ quantum age

URBANA, Ill. (NEXSTAR) — University of Illinois Professor Brian DeMarco started studying the theoretical field of quantum computing back in the ’90s. Now, he helps make that theory a reality at the University of Illinois.

“I just feel so fortunate to be at the have been in the lab at the beginning of it.” DeMarco said. “And now at this point where the state has made this investment to try to build the big one and do it first.”

All computers that most people use in everyday life think in binary. Like a light switch, every decision is reached through a series of ‘yes’ or ‘no’, or ‘on’ or ‘off’ conclusions.

Quantum computers are different.

“So our regular computers work with bits, ones and zeros. And what a computer really does is it takes those ones and zeros. It uses it to represent the world and then to do computations, whether it’s for music or art or science, when those bits are always zero or one, that’s all the choice that you have,” DeMarco said. “What’s different about a quantum is a quantum bit could be zero and one at the same time, and that makes it much harder to control. That’s not something you see in your everyday life. That’s called superposition. You don’t see me here and in the other room. That’s not something that happens, but that’s what you have to make quantum bits do.”

That change gives quantum computers the ability to solve problems that normal computers can’t crack.

“We already sort of know the types of problems that are out there to be solved,” Dr. Harley Johnson, Associate Dean for Research in the Grainger College of Engineering said. “But some of those problems are just too big to really, really address with a conventional computer.”

While they are both called computers, a quantum computer is a completely different machine.

“It’s totally different.” DeMarco said. “This is like going from a Buick you drive on the street to a flying car.”

DeMarco will oversee the Quantum Proving Ground with the federal government. The goal is to figure out what the real applications are for quantum computing, and help the federal government get a handle on what that market will look like. Johnson will run the Illinois quantum and microelectronics park — two of the flagship programs at the state’s new quantum campus in Chicago.

“When new technologies are built, the country that gets there first gets to make the rules,” DeMarco said. “That’s what happened with the internet.”

They both say all the theory and science is sound. They have small-scale prototype quantum computers at the U of I . But the real breakthrough will be building a massive one, and for that, you need a lot of resources.

“If you can just provide that environment for businesses to come into, that is enormous leverage,” DeMarco said. “And it will accelerate everything.”

The actual computer needs to be kept completely isolated from outside factors. This includes storing it in a complete vacuum. The university has special systems in the engineering sciences building to achieve this.

The temperature in that chamber needs to be kept as close to absolute zero as possible. That requires a cryogenics chamber. Just to fully construct a room suitable for a quantum computer takes a massive amount of resources.

The demand is what makes Illinois’ goal of an entire quantum campus so ambitious.

“It’s really an unprecedented public-private partnership,” Johnson said.

Governor Pritzker’s fascination with quantum is leading to a half a billion dollar investment to build a quantum computing campus in Chicago, but all that money isn’t going to build actual computers. It’s going towards making sure all the resources are there for others to build one.

“There’s all the utilities that you see in here. And even cryogenics are there’s a utility for people to come and tap into. And it’s just built out at a scale that no one in the world has done before,” DeMarco said.

DeMarco and Johnson say they are in consistent conversations with businesses all over the world who want to venture into the quantum world. Having such a huge head start makes the idea feasible for many, and it opens the door for a lot of healthy competition.

“We know there are companies from around the world that would like to participate,” Johnson said. “And I think this is going to stimulate new companies that we you know, that we we don’t even know about yet.”

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