The UCSB Quantum Ecosystem
UC Santa Barbara stands as the central nexus connecting world-class research, pioneering student training, and deep industry engagement. We are uniquely positioned to translate foundational discoveries into global impact and strengthen our leadership within the California quantum community. At UCSB, we are simultaneously playing the long-game of conducting curiosity-driven basic science that is fueling the innovation of tomorrow while propelling those discoveries into the emerging technologies of today. This thriving ecosystem of research centers, state-of-the-art facilities, and deep industry partnerships ensures that we are not just participating in quantum research—we are actively resolving the critical engineering and scaling challenges facing the quantum industry.
A Thriving and Complementary Ecosystem
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NSF Quantum Foundry Accelerating the discovery of next-generation quantum materials.
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Eddleman Quantum Institute A hub for interdisciplinary research and university partnerships.
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NSF InTriQATe NRT Equipping graduate students to lead the quantum workforce.
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Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation (CIQC) Addressing fundamental challenges in quantum computation.
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Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) The world's leading center for theoretical physics collaboration and discovery.
Research, Training, & Facilities
Our quantum ecosystem is built on three foundational pillars. We conduct world-leading research into new quantum states, provide comprehensive training for the next generation of quantum engineers, and offer access to world-class facilities for fabrication and discovery.
The Eddleman Quantum Institute (EQI): Funded by visionary philanthropist Roy T. Eddleman, the EQI acts as a hub for interdisciplinary research, strengthening links to other universities and creating a strong place for investment through hiring and donor partnerships.
Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP): KITP plays a crucial role in training the global scientific community by hosting advanced programs and conferences that attract over 1,000 researchers annually. These sustained interactions foster productive collaborations, stimulate creative thinking, and are essential for developing the next generation of leaders in theoretical physics.
UC Santa Barbara’s quantum research is defined by its strategic integration of physics, material science, engineering, chemistry, computer science, and mathematics, coupled with direct industrial collaboration. UCSB has successfully cultivated an environment where foundational discoveries translate rapidly into industrialized hardware solutions. We are not merely participating in quantum research; we are actively resolving the critical engineering and scaling challenges facing the quantum industry. At UCSB we are simultaneously playing the long-game and the short-game. We are in the long-game of conducting curiosity-driven basic science that is fueling the innovation of tomorrow while at the same time in the short-game of propelling discoveries into the emerging technologies of today.
NSF InTriQATe NRT: This program is dedicated to equipping graduate students with the multi-faceted skills needed to lead the quantum workforce and shape the future of the industry.
Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation (CIQC): As a key partner in this NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute led by UC Berkeley, we are part of a multidisciplinary team of mathematicians, computer scientists, physicists, chemists, and engineers addressing the fundamental challenges in the development of the quantum computer.
UC Santa Barbara views the training of the next-generation quantum workforce as a foundational pillar of its mission, leveraging our labs, facilities, and programs to build a robust and diverse talent pipeline that moves from fundamental research into high-tech industry. UCSB's comprehensive strategy addresses the full educational spectrum, from providing specialized education and advanced training for undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdocs who will become tomorrow's research leaders, to providing hands-on training for students in our community colleges to become manufacturing and industry technicians today, to offering educational outreach programs and short courses aimed at engaging K-12 students and teachers. This multilayered, hands-on approach ensures UCSB is not only solving the most challenging problems in quantum materials, sensing, and hardware but is proactively developing the highly skilled and diverse talent base required to sustain both California's innovation economy and the nation's leadership in this essential 21st-century technology.
NSF Quantum Foundry: We accelerate the discovery and development of next-generation quantum materials to enable breakthrough technologies of the future. The Foundry's focus on quantum materials is key to knitting together science, training, and industry engagement across the UC system.
UC Santa Barbara hosts a world-class suite of physical infrastructure that underpins its leadership in quantum materials and hardware engineering. These shared facilities provide access to high-barrier equipment, including specialized diamond-specific etch, irradiation, and growth tools. Dedicated dilution refrigeration units allow researchers to conduct advanced, ultra-low-temperature experiments, such as novel microwave-optical heterodyne spectroscopy for studying hybrid quantum systems at environments down to 10 mK.
Our People
The faculty at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) represent a powerful convergence of fundamental quantum discovery and technological translation, leveraging institutional strengths across the full quantum spectrum. The broad expertise of individual labs is organized and amplified by major centers that unite researchers across Materials Science, Physics, Engineering, Chemistry, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mathematics. Our faculty are pioneering advances from next-generation materials and high-precision quantum sensing to scalable quantum computing architectures, ensuring comprehensive coverage of the most critical challenges in quantum information science and technology. This interdisciplinary mandate is led by faculty and center directors working at the frontier of their fields.
- Leon Balents
- David Berenstein
- Dirk Boumeester
- Nathaniel Craig
- Michel Devoret
- Xi Dong
- Matthew Fisher
- Trevor Hayton
- Andrew Jayich
- Ania Jayich
- Chenhao Jin
- Andreas Ludwig
- John Martinis
- Ben Mazin
- Horia Metiu
- Chetan Nayak
- David Patterson
- Mark Sherwin
- Sagar Vijay
- Vojtech Vlcek
- Zhenghan Wang
- David Weld
- Cenke Xu
- Andrea Young
UCSB Quantum in the News
Groundbreaking quantum-tunnelling experiments win physics Nobel
John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for demonstrating quantum physics at the macroscopic scale.
The race to perfect the quantum computer is on, and UC is helping America hold its lead
Meanwhile, in February, Microsoft announced the creation in its lab at UC Santa Barbara of the first-ever topological quantum chip, which could someday power a quantum computer that’s less error-prone than any that exist today.
2 U.C. Santa Barbara professors receive 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics
UCSB professors John M. Martinis and Michel H. Devoret, along with John Clarke of U.C. Berkeley, were honored for experiments that revealed quantum behavior in a system big enough to hold in your hand.
A New State of Matter Just Changed the Future of Quantum Computing
Microsoft and UC Santa Barbara researchers have unveiled an eight-qubit topological quantum processor, marking a major step toward building a fully functional topological quantum computer.
Community Partners
The vibrant quantum ecosystem has attracted industry partners to the Santa Barbara and Goleta area. This unique concentration of talent and resources is why two of the world's five largest tech companies have established their quantum headquarters here, right across the street from each other and next to campus. We are proud to partner with leading technology companies like Google and Microsoft, government agencies like the National Science Foundation, and emerging start-ups right here in our beautiful coastal backyard.
