OSU physicist awarded $600K Air Force grant to advance quantum simulation

OSU physicist awarded $600K Air Force grant to advance quantum simulation

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

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Collaborative project with OU aims to pioneer new methods for controlling quantum systems

A team of physicists from Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma has been awarded a $600,000 grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to pioneer a new approach to controlling and designing quantum systems, a key capability for next-generation quantum enhanced technologies.

The three-year grant, led by OSU Department of Physics assistant professor Dr. Thomas Bilitewski and co-led by OU associate professor Dr. Grant Biedermann, will allow the researchers to investigate a fundamental challenge in the field: how to precisely control and manipulate systems of quantum particles.

"Our research is fundamentally about enhancing our control over quantum systems," Bilitewski said. "With this grant, we will develop theoretical tools to engineer and control interactions between atoms, effectively designing quantum dynamics resulting in useful entanglement."

The project aims to develop a new "toolbox" of methods to engineer complex quantum states and dynamics, which are crucial resources for quantum computing, sensing and communication. The researchers' approach is to apply spatio-temporal control, a concept that involves controlling both the spatial and temporal structure of quantum systems, enabled by the ability to precisely arrange and manipulate individual atoms in both space and time.

"This novel approach builds on our team's recent work, which has already demonstrated how this kind of control can lead to more robust and scalable entanglement generation," Bilitewski said.

The grant will directly support a postdoctoral researcher at OSU and a graduate student at OU. This collaboration between two of Oklahoma's major research universities is a central goal of the DEPSCOR program - Defense Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research - which aims to enhance institutional capabilities and competitiveness in key scientific fields both regionally and nationally.

"This collaboration is a perfect example of synergy," Biedermann said. "By combining our distinct expertise, my experimental work on Rydberg arrays and Dr. Bilitewski's theoretical work on engineering quantum dynamics via spatial-temporal control, we are not only advancing our scientific agendas, but also creating a robust and unique training ground for the next generation of quantum scientists right here in Oklahoma."

The official announcement was released by the federal government on Sept. 30, and can be read here.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Air Force.