About
JILA is a joint institute of the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), located in Boulder, Colorado. It is a world leader in precision measurement, quantum optics, cold atoms, and neutral atom quantum computing, and its research groups have produced many of the scientists driving the neutral atom qubit field. JILA's quantum computing group, led by Prof. Adam Kaufman, developed foundational techniques for neutral atom quantum computing using optical tweezers and optical lattices, achieving high-fidelity entangling gates and quantum error correction demonstrations that have informed the neutral atom industry. JILA also produced Jun Ye's precision measurement group, whose optical lattice clock work achieved 10 to the minus 19 fractional uncertainty and is driving the next-generation redefinition of the SI second. In March 2026, Google Quantum AI hired from JILA's Kaufman group to establish Google's new neutral atom quantum computing programme in Boulder, Colorado, a direct validation of JILA's leadership in this technology. JILA alumni have founded or joined major quantum companies including ColdQuanta, now Infleqtion, AOSense, and multiple neutral atom startups. The institute hosts the NSF Quantum Systems through Entangled Science and Engineering (Q-SEnSE) Quantum Leap Challenge Institute and maintains Boulder's position as the USA's leading hub for neutral atom quantum technology alongside NIST's Physical Measurement Laboratory.
Quantum Specifications
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