Bard physicist wins $500,000 award to stabilize fragile quantum computers - hudsonvalleyone.com

Cutting-edge quantum computing research is being explored right here in the Hudson Valley. Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson announced that physics professor Abhinav Prem has received a two-year, $500,000 research award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop new methods aimed at making quantum computers more stable and reliable. Bard gets $300,006 of the half million as lead institution. Quantum computers are widely viewed as a potential tool for accelerating hard problems in areas like materials science and drug discovery, but today’s machines are fragile. Their qubits can be knocked off course by small disturbances such as heat, vibrations, or stray electromagnetic fields. Prem’s research focuses on designing systems where errors are pushed into predictable “paths” that can be identified and corrected, drawing on mathematical symmetries and unusual phases of matter. He compares the approach to building tracks for a runaway train so errors cannot spread in uncontrolled ways. The project will combine theoretical work with practical protocols designed for near-term devices and will support one postdoctoral researcher at Bard and one at USC. The work also adds to a growing quantum footprint along the Hudson River corridor, including IBM’s quantum operations in Poughkeepsie and research activity at IBM’s Thomas J.

Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights. Even as investment grows, quantum computing still sits in a space where bold promises coexist with healthy skepticism, since building fault-tolerant machines that deliver consistent real-world advantage remains a major scientific and engineering challenge.