{"id":486639,"date":"2026-01-02T07:58:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T07:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/486639\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T07:58:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T07:58:22","slug":"university-of-michigan-researchers-win-9-million-grant-for-distributed-quantum-sensing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/486639\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Michigan Researchers Win $9 Million Grant for Distributed Quantum Sensing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Insider Brief<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A $9 million, five-year U.S. Office of Naval Research MURI project led by Zheshen Zhang aims to use quantum entanglement to improve the accuracy, speed and sensitivity of distributed sensor networks beyond classical limits.<\/li>\n<li>The research will study whether entanglement, combined with error correction and stabilization, can surpass the standard quantum limit for measurement sensitivity and bandwidth, potentially enabling quadratic or greater performance gains in networked quantum sensors.<\/li>\n<li>The multidisciplinary effort will use experimental testbeds at the University of Michigan and Princeton University, with applications ranging from GPS-denied navigation and inertial sensing to secure quantum communications.<\/li>\n<li>Image:  <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/users\/geralt-9301\/?utm_source=instant-images&amp;utm_medium=referral\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">geralt<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pixabay<\/a>, Story: <a href=\"https:\/\/ece.engin.umich.edu\/stories\/9m-muri-explores-the-fundamental-limits-of-distributed-entangled-quantum-sensing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">University of Michigan<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>PRESS RELEASE \u2014 Networks of distributed sensors are commonplace in today\u2019s society, from the security systems that monitor motion or the sound of glass breaking at a single home to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/programs\/earthquake-hazards\/gsn-global-seismographic-network\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">global network<\/a>\u00a0of seismological and geophysical sensors monitoring earthquake activity around the world. A new US Office of Naval Research (ONR) Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) project led by U-M Electrical and Computer Engineering Prof.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/quantumlab.engin.umich.edu\/team\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zheshen Zhang<\/a>\u00a0aims to harness quantum entanglement to improve the accuracy of these types of sensor networks.<\/p>\n<p>Zhang and his research team were awarded $9M over five years to study and develop a holistic framework on distributed entangled quantum sensing. With entanglement, two particles are inherently linked through their quantum states; measuring one particle tells you something about the other, no matter the distance between them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can create entanglement to connect the sensors,\u201d explained Zhang. \u201cOver the past few years, we discovered that entanglement can allow you to improve the performance of a sensor network in terms of the resolution\u2014so you can actually review finer details and take measurements faster than a conventional sensor network, with more sensitivity or higher signal-to-noise ratio.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thequantuminsider.com\/data\/\" onclick=\"_gs(&#039;event&#039;, &#039;DATA IN CONTENT NEW&#039;)\" class=\"responsive-image\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Website-Banner-Quantum-2.gif\" alt=\"Responsive Image\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor this MURI program, we want to put these technologies in the broader context of designing the next generation of quantum technologies\u2014using quantum computing and networking resources to boost the performance of such devices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The team plans to determine the physical limit for measurement sensitivity and bandwidth without using entanglement, called the \u201cstandard quantum limit,\u201d of a network of quantum sensors. And more importantly, he said, they\u2019d like to find out whether that fundamental standard quantum limit can be overcome using entanglement, with error correction and stabilization methods. If it can, as the research team hypothesizes, entangled quantum sensors can be drastically enhanced, by a quadratic scale or larger.<\/p>\n<p>Once the groundwork for the sensing network is laid out, ECE Prof.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/seiler.engin.umich.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Peter Seiler<\/a>\u00a0will apply control theory to optimize the sensing methodology for the number of sensors and their data analysis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe way that sensors work, feedback can be used to improve the sensing methodology,\u201d Seiler said. \u201cOne example of this would be cruise control on a car: you\u2019re measuring your speed, comparing it to how fast you want to go, and then changing the throttle on the engine to go faster or slower. Similar ideas can potentially be used here to improve the sensing capabilities of these entangled quantum sensors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The project will leverage multiple types of quantum platforms and types of sensors to measure both continuous and discrete variables, using experimental testbeds\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ece.engin.umich.edu\/stories\/u-m-quantum-testbed-enables-remote-experiments\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">at the University of Michigan<\/a>\u00a0and Princeton University.<\/p>\n<p>The fundamental findings of this work may translate into the design of inertial sensors for tracking objects in spaces where GPS is ineffective, the development of an improved \u201cquantum internet\u201d for fast and secure telecommunications, and more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a big, multidisciplinary, multi-university project,\u201d Seiler said. \u201cTo be awarded the MURI, it required involving many different people with a lot of different expertise. I think Zheshen did a great job putting together the team and coordinating the proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The project, entitled \u201cDiscrete and Continuous-Variable Distributed Entangled Quantum Sensing: Foundation, Building Blocks, and Testbeds (DISCO-DEQS),\u201d also includes co-PIs Alexey Gorshkov (University of Maryland), Saikat Guha (University of Maryland), Liang Jiang (University of Chicago), Jeff Thompson (Princeton University), Dalziel Wilson (University of Arizona), and Quntao Zhang (University of Southern California).<\/p>\n<p>This line of research has been funded by the ONR for the past few years, allowing Zhang\u2019s research group to collect the data necessary for this MURI proposal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Insider Brief A $9 million, five-year U.S. Office of Naval Research MURI project led by Zheshen Zhang aims&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":486640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[219799,6139,492,32828,159,67,132,11285,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-486639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-distributed-quantum-sensing","9":"tag-grant","10":"tag-physics","11":"tag-quantum-sensing","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-university-of-michigan","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115824446916400094","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}