U.S. DoD Awards $7.5 Million to a Six University Team to Study Majorana Based Qubits

The award was made by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) to a team of six universities led by Professor Javad Shabani of New York University (NYU) and including colleagues from Yale University, the University at Buffalo, the University of Maryland, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The topic's name is Novel Routes to Majorana Qubits for Topologically-Protected Quantum Information. In theory, Majorana based topological qubits could have superior noise resistance and much lower error rates than other types of qubits. We reported last month about progress made by Microsoft in creating and sustaining a quantum phase with Majorana zero modes and a measurable topological gap. Additional information about this award can be seen in a press release issued by NYU here and also a listing from the DoD's MURI that includes this program as one of 28 basic research awards they made to academic institutions for Fiscal 2022.

April 2, 2022