About
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university founded in 1636 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its quantum work is anchored by the Harvard Quantum Initiative, which unites researchers across disciplines to advance quantum science and engineering. The initiative is one of the strongest in the country, with a heavy focus on quantum networking, quantum chemistry, and quantum materials research. Harvard's quantum research spans quantum processors, quantum algorithms, quantum communication networks, quantum simulation, and quantum sensing, and the university maintains partnerships with leading quantum companies, including QuEra Computing, and with government agencies. In September 2025, a team of Harvard physicists led by Mikhail Lukin, the Joshua and Beth Friedman University Professor, built the first quantum computer that can operate continuously for more than 2 hours without restarting, published in Nature. The system runs an array of more than 3,000 neutral-atom qubits and could in theory continue indefinitely, a large improvement over existing quantum computers that typically run for milliseconds, or at most 13 seconds. The team achieved this by replenishing qubits in real time, injecting new atoms at a rate of 300,000 per second using an optical lattice conveyor belt system that counteracts atom loss and preserves quantum information. More than 50 million atoms were cycled through the system during the two-hour demonstration. Harvard's researchers say the achievement shows that quantum computers capable of running continuously in practice are now about three years away, down from a previous estimate of five or more years. Harvard supports the wider quantum research community through fundamental research, quantum education programs, and technology transfer.
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