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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 325 records · Page 18
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Quantum Advantage in Trading: A Game-Theoretic Approach

Quantum games, like quantum algorithms, exploit quantum entanglement to establish strong correlations between strategic player actions. This paper introduces quantum game-theoretic models applied to trading and demonstrates their implementation on an ion-trap quantum computer. The results showcase a quantum advantage, previously known only theoretically, realized as higher-paying market Nash equilibria. This advantage could help uncover alpha in trading strategies, defined as excess returns compared to established benchmarks. These findings suggest that quantum computing could significantly influence the development of financial strategies.

Khan, Faisal Shah [Taqtics LLC, USA, Rethinc. Labs↗
DOE OSTI2025

Entropy of the Quantum–Classical Interface: A Potential Metric for Security

Hybrid quantum–classical systems are emerging as key platforms in quantum computing, sensing, and communication technologies, but the quantum–classical interface (QCI)—the boundary enabling these systems—introduces unique and largely unexplored security vulnerabilities. This position paper proposes using entropy-based metrics to monitor and enhance security, specifically at the QCI. We present a theoretical security outline that leverages well-established information-theoretic entropy measures, such as Shannon entropy, von Neumann entropy, and quantum relative entropy, to detect anomalous behaviors and potential breaches at the QCI. By linking entropy fluctuations to scenarios of practical relevance—including quantum key distribution, quantum sensing, and hybrid control systems—we promote the potential value and applicability of entropy-based security monitoring. While explicitly acknowledging practical limitations and theoretical assumptions, we argue that entropy-based metrics provide a complementary approach to existing security methods, inviting further empirical studies and theoretical refinements that can strengthen future quantum technologies.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2023

Independent Panel Report for Technical Assessment of NASA and External Quantum Sensing Capabilities

Sensors based on quantum mechanical properties of electromagnetic radiation and matter offer unique capabilities and performance sometimes difficult to achieve using classical approaches. This report assesses the suitability of quantum sensing for current and future NASA needs, with a specific focus on NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD). Measurement and sensing needs across NASA SMD are reviewed as a driver for the possible incorporation of existing quantum sensors into the NASA portfolio and the development of next-generation quantum sensors. A range of quantum sensing modalities is then described and the current state of the art for each sensor is presented. Current research and development activities on quantum sensing within NASA are compared with the range of activities ongoing throughout the broader scientific community, both within the United States and internationally. In conclusion, there is considerable advantage to be gained by NASA from quantum sensors through the growth of internal programs and collaboration with outside entities.

Quantum Sensing↗
DOE OSTI2026

Simulating plasma wave propagation on a superconducting quantum chip

Quantum computers may one day enable the efficient simulation of strongly coupled plasmas that lie beyond the reach of classical computation in regimes where quantum effects are important and the scale separation is large. Here, in this article, we take a first step toward efficient simulation of quantum plasmas by demonstrating linear plasma wave propagation on a superconducting quantum chip. Using high-fidelity and highly expressive device-native gates, combined with an error-mitigation technique, we simulate the scattering of laser pulses from inhomogeneous plasmas. Our approach is made feasible by the identification of a suitable local spin model whose excitations mimic plasma waves, and whose circuit implementation requires a lower gate count than other proposed approaches that would require a future fault-tolerant quantum computer. This work opens avenues to study more complicated phenomena that cannot be simulated efficiently on classical computers, such as nonlinear quantum dynamics when strongly coupled plasmas are driven out of equilibrium.

general physics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Efficient Simulation of Open Quantum Systems on NISQ Trapped‐Ion Hardware

Abstract Simulating open quantum systems, which interact with external environments, presents significant challenges on noisy intermediate‐scale quantum (NISQ) devices due to limited qubit resources and noise. In this study, an efficient framework is proposed for simulating open quantum systems on NISQ hardware by leveraging a time‐perturbative Kraus operator representation of the system's dynamics. This approach avoids the computationally expensive Trotterization method and exploits the Lindblad master equation to represent time evolution in a compact form, particularly for systems satisfying specific commutation relations. The efficiency of this method is demonstrated by simulating quantum channels, such as the continuous‐time Pauli channel and damped harmonic oscillators, on NISQ trapped‐ion hardware, including IonQ Harmony and Quantinuum H1‐1. Additionally, hardware‐agnostic error mitigation techniques are introduced, including Pauli channel fitting and quantum depolarizing channel inversion, to enhance the fidelity of quantum simulations. These results show strong agreement between the simulations on real quantum hardware and exact solutions, highlighting the potential of Kraus‐based methods for scalable and accurate simulation of open quantum systems on NISQ devices. This framework opens pathways for simulating more complex systems under realistic conditions in the near term.

Burdine, Colin [Department of Electrical and Compu↗
DOE OSTI2026

Unveiling horizons in quantum critical collapse

Critical gravitational collapse offers a unique window into regimes of arbitrarily high curvature, culminating in a naked singularity arising from smooth initial data — thus providing a dynamical counterexample to weak cosmic censorship. Near the critical regime, quantum effects from the collapsing matter are expected to intervene before full quantum gravity resolves the singularity. Despite its fundamental significance, a self-consistent treatment has so far remained elusive. In this work, we perform a one-loop semiclassical analysis using the robust anomaly-based method in the canonical setup of Einstein gravity minimally coupled to a free, massless scalar field. Focusing on explicitly solvable near-critical solutions in both 2 + 1 and 3 + 1 dimensions, we analytically solve the semiclassical Einstein equations and obtain controlled, quantitative results for several long-standing questions within the dominant s-wave sector. We find that regularity uniquely selects a Boulware-like quantum state, encoding genuine vacuum polarization effects from the collapsing matter. Remarkably, the resulting quantum corrections manifest as a growing mode. Horizon-tracing analyses, incorporating both classical and quantum modes, reveal the emergence of a finite mass gap, signaling a phase transition from classical Type II to quantum-modified Type I behavior, thereby providing a quantum enforcement of the weak cosmic censorship. The most non-trivial aspect of our analysis involves dealing with non-conformal matter fields in explicitly time-dependent critical spacetimes. Along the way, we uncover intriguing and previously underexplored features of quantum field theory in curved spacetime.

2D Gravity↗
DOE OSTI2026

Quantum computing approach for building surface sunlit in urban-scale energy modeling

Solar shadow calculations are needed in building energy modeling and performance simulation of PV systems installed on roofs or facades of buildings. We present a quantum computing approach for calculation of building surface sunlit fractions by recasting solar visibility as a binary optimization problem solved by quantum annealing. Each triangulated surface centroid is encoded as a binary qubit indicating sunlit or shaded status. Geometric visibility constraints are derived from the Möller-Trumbore intersection algorithm and converted into a constrained quadratic binary model compatible with contemporary quantum annealers. The coefficients were embedded to D-Wave quantum computer. To demonstrate feasibility, we conducted a case study in San Francisco for a target building with 52 triangles and roughly 2700 nearby triangles within 50 m evaluated at representative winter and summer solar positions. The results demonstrated that quantum annealing can reliably calculate and distinguish sunlit from shaded surfaces. Quantum samples achieved average accuracy exceeding 92.4 %, with the aggregate surface-level agreement approaching 99.9 %. The outputs of quantum computers agreed closely with classical algorithms, indicating practical feasibility and promising scalability. Finally, the hourly sunlit fractions of building surfaces can be obtained for urban energy modelling. This is the first study to apply quantum computing to the solar shadow and building surface sunlit calculation. It introduces a new paradigm that differs fundamentally from traditional approaches.

Deng, Zhipeng↗
DOE OSTI2025

Predicting Flow in Fracture Networks With Quantum Algorithms

Uncertainty quantification plays a crucial role in the modeling of subsurface flow. For instance, uncertainties in the properties of geologic fracture networks significantly impact flow, requiring numerous simulations to accurately estimate quantities of interest. However, each simulation is computationally expensive because it requires solving a large linear system to capture features that involve both small and large fractures. An example is in percolation, where the interaction of many small fractures (which cumulatively can have a large surface area) with the rock matrix must be modeled precisely. Quantum computing is an emerging tool with the potential to address this issue. Quantum algorithms offer a significant speedup in solving linear systems, achieving efficiencies that are challenging to match with classical approaches. These classical approaches include direct solvers, such as LU decomposition, and iterative methods, notably preconditioned conjugate gradient, commonly used in subsurface modeling to solve large sparse systems. However, applying quantum algorithms to geologic fracture flow requires careful attention to algorithmic and problem-specific constraints to fully realize this quantum advantage. In this work we describe a quantum algorithm for generalized Monte Carlo applications with a quadratic speedup over the classical approaches which can be combined with the quantum speedup, currently under investigation, for solving quantum linear systems for subsurface flow. We show that for quantum algorithms the computational cost of estimating a quantity of interest for a statistical ensemble of networks is roughly the same as that of a single realization, essentially implying that one can get uncertainty quantification for free.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

High-temperature quantum coherence of spinons in a rare-earth spin chain

Conventional wisdom dictates that quantum effects become unimportant at high temperatures. In magnets, when the thermal energy exceeds interactions between atomic magnetic moments, the moments are usually uncorrelated, and classical paramagnetic behavior is observed. This thermal decoherence of quantum spin behaviors is a major hindrance to quantum information applications of spin systems. Remarkably, our neutron scattering experiments on Yb chains in an insulating perovskite crystal defy these conventional expectations. We find a sharply defined spectrum of spinons, fractional quantum excitations of spin-1/2 chains, to persist to temperatures much higher than the scale of the interactions between Yb magnetic moments. The observed sharpness of the spinon continuum’s dispersive upper boundary indicates a spinon mean free path exceeding ≈ 35 inter-atomic spacings at temperatures more than an order of magnitude above the interaction energy scale. We thus discover an important and highly unique quantum behavior, which expands the realm of quantumness to high temperatures where entropy-governed classical behaviors were previously believed to dominate. Our results have profound implications for spin systems in quantum information applications operating at finite temperatures and motivate new developments in quantum metrology.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2026

Observation of quantum effects on radiation reaction in strong fields

Radiation reaction, the force experienced by an accelerated charge due to radiation emission, has long been the subject of extensive theoretical and experimental research. Experimental verification of a quantum, strong-field description of radiation reaction is fundamentally important, and has wide-ranging implications for astrophysics, laser-driven particle acceleration, next-generation particle colliders and inverse-Compton photon sources for medical and industrial applications. However, the difficulty of accessing regimes where strong field and quantum effects dominate inhibited previous efforts to observe quantum radiation reaction in charged particle dynamics with high significance. We report the first high significance (> 5σ) observation of strong-field radiation reaction on electron spectra where quantum effects are substantial. We obtain the first, quantitative, strong evidence favouring the quantum-continuous and quantum-stochastic models over the classical model; the quantum models perform comparably. The lower electron energy losses predicted by the quantum models accounts for their improved performance. Model comparison was performed using a novel Bayesian framework which has widespread utility for laser-particle collision experiments, including those utilising conventional accelerators, where some collision parameters cannot be measured directly.

Los, Eva E. [Imperial College London (United Kingd↗
DOE OSTI2025

Tunable coherent mixed-dimensional perovskite heterojunctions and quantum wells grown from solution

Coherent heterojunctions, quantum wells and multiple quantum wells are needed for high-performance devices; these are generally grown via a dedicated vapour phase epitaxy process. Here we demonstrate the growth of coherent perovskite heterojunctions and quantum wells made of mixed-dimensional perovskites using a solution process. By exploiting the solubility difference of methylammonium (MA + ) and 4-(aminomethyl)piperidinium (4AMP 2+ ), we assemble layered perovskites with different layer numbers. The resulting 4AMP-MA n–1 Pb n I 3n+1 materials each with different layer numbers or bandgaps form quantum wells. Heterojunctions and quantum wells made of 4AMP-MA 2 Pb 3 I 10 (n = 3) and 4AMP-MAPb 2 I 7 (n = 2) with various barrier thickness are tailored by the solution temperature profile during crystal growth. Multiple quantum wells have been formed by cycling temperature profiles. The planar heterojunction and quantum wells have lattice matching without interfacial defects, and exhibit strong thermal stability. Type I band alignment at the n = 2/n = 3 heterojunction is confirmed by both computation and optical studies. In conclusion, this study opens a new direction for the development of sophisticated perovskite heterojunction and quantum well devices.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Quantum-amplified global-phase spectroscopy on an optical clock transition

Optical lattice clocks are at the forefront of precision metrology, operating near a standard quantum limit set by quantum noise. Harnessing quantum entanglement offers a promising route to surpass this limit; however, there are practical difficulties in terms of scalability and measurement resolution requirements. Here we adapt the holonomic quantum gate concept to develop a new Rabi-type ‘global-phase spectroscopy’ that uses the detuning-sensitive global Aharonov–Anandan phase19. With this approach, we can demonstrate quantum-amplified time-reversal spectroscopy on an optical clock transition that achieves directly measured 2.4(7) dB metrological gain and 4.0(8) dB improvement in laser noise sensitivity beyond the standard quantum limit. To this end, we introduce rotary echo to protect the dynamics from inhomogeneities in light–atom coupling and implement a laser-noise-cancelling differential measurement through symmetric phase encoding in two nuclear spin states. Our technique is not limited by measurement resolution, scales easily because of the global nature of entangling interaction and exhibits high resilience to typical experimental imperfections. As a result, we expect it to be broadly applicable to next-generation atomic clocks and other quantum sensors approaching the fundamental quantum precision limits.

Zaporski, Leon [Massachusetts Institute of Technol↗
DOE OSTI2024

Quantum Tensor-Product Decomposition from Choi-State Tomography

The Schmidt decomposition is the go-to tool for measuring bipartite entanglement of pure quantum states. Similarly, it is possible to study the entangling features of a quantum operation using its operator-Schmidt or tensor-product decomposition. While quantum technological implementations of the former are thoroughly studied, entangling properties on the operator level are harder to extract in the quantum computational framework because of the exponential nature of sample complexity. Here, we present an algorithm for unbalanced partitions into a small subsystem and a large one (the environment) to compute the tensor-product decomposition of a unitary the effect of which on the small subsystem is captured in classical memory, while the effect on the environment is accessible as a quantum resource. This quantum algorithm may be used to make predictions about operator nonlocality and effective open quantum dynamics on a subsystem, as well as for finding low-rank approximations and low-depth compilations of quantum circuit unitaries. We demonstrate the method and its applications on a time-evolution unitary of an isotropic Heisenberg model in two dimensions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Mansuroglu, Refik (ORCID:000000017352513X)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Visual Analytics of Performance of Quantum Computing Systems and Circuit Optimization

Driven by potential exponential speedups in business, security, and scientific scenarios, interest in quantum computing is surging. This interest feeds the development of quantum computing hardware, but several challenges arise in optimizing application performance for hardware metrics (e.g., qubit coherence and gate fidelity). In this work, we describe a visual analytics approach for analyzing the performance properties of quantum devices and quantum circuit optimization. Our approach allows users to explore spatial and temporal patterns in quantum device performance data and it computes similarities and variances in key performance metrics. Detailed analysis of the error properties characterizing individual qubits is also supported. We also describe a method for visualizing the optimization of quantum circuits. The resulting visualization tool allows researchers to design more efficient quantum algorithms and applications by increasing the interpretability of quantum computations.

Chae, Junghoon↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Quantum Approach for Implementing Fixed-Point Arithmetic in Solving Ordinary Differential Equations

Differential equations (DEs) serve as fundamental tools in mathematical modeling across scientific disciplines, yet classical numerical solvers face limitations with large-scale or computationally intensive problems. This study explores a quantum-inspired approach to solving DEs, combining quantum-inspired techniques with classical methods. It focuses on fixed-point arithmetic on quantum circuits, utilizing basic quantum gates to manipulate DE solutions. We expand upon the techniques introduced by Zanger et al. [Quantum, 5, 502 (2021)] by offering a precise computation for a fixed-point signed multiplication scheme, while also presenting a quantum circuit capable of executing the fixed-point division algorithm. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach through the simulation of a linear Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE), where initial conditions and parameters are encoded into quantum circuits using fixed-point representation. By executing sequences of quantum gates mimicking numerical integration steps, we obtain approximate solutions to the ODE with specified fixed-point precision.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Framework for Integrating Quantum Simulation and High Performance Computing

Scientific applications are starting to explore the viability of quantum computing. This exploration typically begins with quantum simulations that can run on existing classical platforms, albeit without the performance advantages of real quantum resources. In the context of high-performance computing (HPC), the incorporation of simulation software can often take advantage of the powerful resources to help scale-up the simulation size. The configuration, installation and operation of these quantum simulation packages on HPC resources can often be rather daunting and increases friction for experimentation by scientific application developers. We describe a framework to help streamline access to quantum simulation software running on HPC resources. This includes an interface for circuit-based quantum computing tasks, as well as the necessary resource management infrastructure to make effective use of the underlying HPC resources. The primary contributions of this work include a classification of different usage models for quantum simulation in an HPC context, a review of the software architecture for our approach and a detailed description of the prototype implementation to experiment with these ideas using two different simulators (TNQVM & NWQ-Sim). We include initial experimental results running on the Frontier supercomputer at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) using a synthetic workload generated via the SupermarQ quantum benchmarking framework.

Shehata, Amir [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000224531426)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Computational Performance Bounds Prediction in Quantum Computing With Unstable Noise

Quantum computing has significantly advanced in recent years, boasting devices with hundreds of quantum bits (qubits), hinting at its potential quantum advantage over classical computing. Yet, noise in quantum devices poses significant barriers to realizing this supremacy. Understanding noise’s impact is crucial for reproducibility and application reuse; moreover, the next-generation quantum-centric supercomputing essentially requires efficient and accurate noise characterization to support system management (e.g., job scheduling), where ensuring correct functional performance (i.e., fidelity) of jobs on available quantum devices can even be higher-priority than traditional objectives. However, noise fluctuates over time, even on the same quantum device, which makes predicting the computational bounds for on-the-fly noise is vital. Noisy quantum simulation can offer insights but faces efficiency and scalability issues. Here, in this work, we propose a data-driven workflow, namely QuBound, to predict computational performance bounds. It decomposes historical performance traces to isolate noise sources and devises a novel encoder to embed circuit and noise information processed by a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network. For evaluation, we compare QuBound with a state-of-the-art learning-based predictor, which only generates a single performance value instead of a bound. Experimental results show that the result of the existing approach falls outside of performance bounds, while all predictions from our QuBound with the assistance of performance decomposition better fit the bounds. Moreover, QuBound can efficiently produce practical bounds for various circuits with over 106 speedup over simulation; in addition, the range from QuBound is over 10× narrower than the state-of-the-art analytical approach.

Li, Jinyang [George Mason Univ., Fairfax, VA (Unit↗
DOE OSTI2024

Quantum sensing using a qubit for the detection of ionizing radiation

Quantum sensing utilizes the inherent sensitivity of a quantum system to external stimuli. Our goal is to leverage this sensitivity to develop a quantum sensor designed for the detection of ionizing radiation. Here we report on the design, fabrication, and measurement of a new quantum device for hard x-ray and gamma-ray detection. Our quantum device is based on a superconducting quantum bit (qubit) with superconducting tunnel junctions as the core device elements. We describe our experimental investigation directed toward the detection metrics of energy resolution, dynamic range, and active area. In contrast to existing superconducting detectors, the active area per qubit may be much larger than the physical area of the tunnel junctions or the physical area of the qubit device, due to the sensitivity of quantum coherence to ionizing radiation deposition within a radius on the millimeter or centimeter scale. Furthermore, our experimental design enables an ionizing radiation source at room temperature to be detected by our quantum sensor at low temperature.

qubit↗