University of Michigan-Led QuPID Project Advances to Phase 2 of NSF National Quantum Virtual Laboratory Competition
University of Michigan-Led QuPID Project Advances to Phase 2 of NSF National Quantum Virtual Laboratory Competition
A research consortium led by University of Michigan Engineering has secured a $4 million USD Phase 2 award in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) National Virtual Quantum Laboratory design competition. The two-year project, titled Quantum Photonic Integration and Deployment (QuPID), is one of nine initiatives selected to design plug-and-play photonic circuits that transition quantum measurements from specialized laboratory settings into field-ready hardware. If the design phase meets its core performance milestones in 2028, the team will contend for a Phase 3 implementation award valued at $50 million USD over five years to prototype and manufacture the final field-deployable quantum chips.
The QuPID engineering roadmap focuses on developing ultrabroadband quantum photonic integrated circuits (Q-PICs) that manipulate light across a spectrum spanning from below infrared to deep ultraviolet. To achieve the zero-loss, high-fidelity manipulation, and operational stability required for field applications, the hardware architecture utilizes a new semiconductor material discovered during Phase 1: scandium aluminum nitride (ScAlN). This ferroelectric-III nitride material integrates natively with conventional silicon-based microelectronics while outperforming legacy quantum substrates. Concurrently, the team is optimizing on-chip squeezed light capabilities, aiming to advance noise reduction benchmarks from an initial 3 dB up to 5 dB during Phase 2, with a long-term operational target of 15 dB.
[ QuPID Guidestar Applications ]
Quantum Navigation ──► Compact, GPS-free inertial positioning built for extreme terrestrial environments. Quantum "Camera" ──► Miniaturized attosecond diagnostic tool to capture real-time chemical reactions.
The consortium is optimizing these underlying chip designs around two primary guidestar applications. The first is a rugged, compact quantum navigation subsystem optimized for deep-space missions, lunar exploration, and underwater vehicles where GPS signals are physically unavailable. The second application is a quantum “camera” designed to analyze microelectronic processes and molecular chemical reactions with attosecond (quintillionth-of-a-second) precision. By miniaturizing these complex diagnostic tools onto modular, connectable chip components, the project aims to replace rooms filled with specialized optical tables and classical measurement equipment with portable, commercial-grade micro-hardware.
The interdisciplinary initiative brings together researchers spanning academia, federal defense agencies, and commercial aerospace manufacturers. Beyond the University of Michigan, the academic network relies heavily on The Ohio State University’s Institute for Optical Science (IOS)—including contributions from 2023 Nobel Laureate Pierre Agostini, Professor Louis DiMauro, Alexandra Landsman, and Michael Chini—to incorporate world-leading expertise in attosecond metrology. Additional core academic partners include Stanford, Harvard, and Purdue. Industrial feedback regarding manufacturing constraints is supplied by corporate partners including Honeywell, General Motors, Toyota, TOPTICA Photonics, and Raytheon, alongside operational tracking from the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA.
The technical program briefs, hardware milestones, and institution listings can be reviewed here, while the complementary data detailing the parallel NQVL project selections can be accessed here. Furthermore, the specific attosecond metrology and institutional partnership metrics contributed by the physics faculty can be audited here.
July 2, 2026
Mohamed Abdel-Kareem2026-07-02T13:10:43-07:00
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