Entanglement measures the “quantumness” of a physical system: its existence indicates that microscopic objects (photons, electrons, atoms, ions) do not obey the laws of classical mechanics. In the last few years, quantum scientists have realized that entanglement is not just a curious property of nature at microscopic scales, but can actually be used as a resource to build powerful macroscopic devices with unprecedented capabilities and degree of complexity. Entanglement was recently employed for example in quantum-limited precision measurements, quantum communication and cryptography, quantum simulation and computation, with a huge impact in physics, chemistry, engineering, and computer science. The goal of the QUEST Center at Bar-Ilan University is to study how to create, characterize, store, and use entanglement between different macroscopic quantum devices.

To achieve this goal, we will explore the entanglement properties of diverse systems, such as superconducting circuits, nano-mechanical resonators, entangled photons, ultracold atoms and molecules, spins in semiconductors and defects in diamonds. Each of these systems has peculiar advantages and disadvantages in terms of storing/handling the quantum information, which we will try to alleviate by constructing new types of hybrid devices. Thanks to the diverse expertise of the center’s members, we will be able to combine a wide range of state-of-the-art computational and experimental techniques. One of the major challenges that we will undertake is the analysis of the entanglement of complex devices including a large number of quantum degrees of freedom. The full description of these systems would require an unrealistically large amount of classical computing resources. Our center will rather focus on a bottom-up approach, where reliable small quantum systems are used to verify, feedback, and correct larger unknown devices.

In addition to fostering scientific collaborations at Bar-Ilan University, our center will establish strong links with quantum centers in Europe and the US. To guarantee the visibility and the relevance of the research performed at the QUEST Center, we will hold international workshops and host renowned scholars in the field of quantum science and technology. The center will amplify the outreach efforts of the researchers, by organizing expositions and guided visits for the public, and by describing the scientific achievements of the center in popular-science articles for newspapers and websites in Israel and in the world.