Program Summary
DRINQS is a fundamental science program that aims to investigate a recent paradigm shift in quantum research, which maintains that periodically driving a system out of equilibrium may increase the length of time that its quantum state endures. DRINQS aims to investigate this phenomenon and demonstrate significant gains over conventional states in timekeeping, field sensing, and information processing for use in national security applications.
The performance of quantum sensors and devices is intimately dependent on its coherence, which is the length of time the underlying system retains its quantum properties before environmental interactions make the state behave like a conventional classical system. The interactions of atoms within the system and with a “noisy” thermal environment are typically limiting factors of coherence time, which means the best quantum devices require extremely clean control signals and cryogenic environments to reduce thermal disturbances. This requirement for pristine laboratory conditions to maintain coherence has limited the applicability and adoption of quantum technology in operational devices of interest to national security, such as mobile high-performance atomic clocks that could provide troops GPS-like precision navigation in GPS-denied environments.
DRINQS aims to determine and demonstrate what protocols can optimally enhance quantum coherence in driven systems. Additionally, the program plans to demonstrate a proof-of-principle with 10X improvement over conventional techniques in clock stability, high spatial resolution field sensing, and quantum information applications.