Recent Florida A&M University PhD graduate Jessica Tucker was quoted in a recent DOE news article, "Quantum in the Palm of Your Hand: The Evolution of Superconducting Qubits: How the Department of Energy’s support for basic research in 1985 set the foundation for today’s quantum technology."
For at least one early career researcher, the Nobel Prize had special significance. Jessica Tucker was in the middle of conducting her PhD research on superconducting qubits when the Nobel was announced.
“It actually undergirds what I’m doing today,” said Tucker, a quantum physicist and former intern at DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. “Seeing that recognized at a higher level … allows me to see how the lineage of my research is real and alive.”
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One of the major issues is that controlling a quantum system can destroy its quantum state. “The field is discovering that control is really a bottleneck,” said Tucker. She sees a lot of promise in using machine learning for closed-loop control of these systems. Machine learning would allow the system itself to inform the best way of running it rather than relying solely on a simulated model. "Real hardware always has imperfections that a simulation doesn't fully capture," she said. "When your optimization loop runs on the device, the hardware itself helps tell you what to correct."
https://www.energy.gov/science/articles/quantum-palm-your-hand-evolution...
