Sandia National Labs NM Partnerships Collaboration Report 2021-2022

CONTRIBUTOR Spotlight

UNM’s Associate Professor Francisco Elohim Becerra is heavily involved in the Center for Quantum Information and Control. His expertise in the quantum realm crosses experimental quantum optics, quantum communications, nonlinear optics, and quantum information. His current research involves quantum measurements of light for efficient communications, and quantum optics and atom-photon

Quantum technologies, like this quantum computer at Sandia, might be a source of future jobs in New Mexico’s tech sector.

The coalition is supported by more than 30 colleges, businesses, labs and nonprofit organizations that operate in the Land of Enchantment. Sandia and UNM additionally formed the Quantum New Mexico Institute earlier in 2022 to create opportunities to build New Mexico’s local quantum economy, develop a quantum-ready workforce, and collaborate with leading institutions. “Most people don’t know that New Mexico has made many major scientific discoveries in this field of research,” said Setso Metodi, Sandia’s manager over quantum computer science. “As we keep pushing the science, we want to also grow the number of people who can participate in it.” Other coalition activities will focus on industry engagement, business development, policy and infrastructure enhancement. Mary Monson, Sandia’s senior manager of technology partnerships and business development, said the state has advantages when it comes to drawing businesses in this emerging sector. “ New Mexico has a huge government presence, including two national laboratories with strong quantum research programs. That makes the state attractive to businesses and startups that want to work on government projects. So, we’re asking ourselves: What else will these businesses need? How can New Mexico remove supply chain barriers for manufacturers, for example? What programs do our higher education institutions need to build up a quantum-savvy workforce?”

interfaces for long distance quantum communication.

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2021-2022 Collaboration Report