The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded DURIP funding to physics professor Jacob Covey and bioengineering professor Viktor Gruev. Gruev’s project, supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, draws inspiration from the mantis shrimp’s vision to create advanced imaging systems for applications in medical diagnostics and industrial automation. Covey's project, funded by the Army Research Office, advances scalable quantum computing by using a transportable array of neutral atoms to entangle 10,000 atoms simultaneously. Both projects highlight Illinois’ leadership in groundbreaking research.
Written by Michael O'Boyle
(Left to right) Jacob Covey and Viktor Gruev
The U.S. Department of Defense has announced that two faculty members in The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign – physics professor Jacob Covey and electrical & computer engineering and bioengineering professor Viktor Gruev – will receive funding through the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program, or DURIP, in the 2025 fiscal year.
DURIP supports university investigators conducting basic research in Defense-priority areas by funding the purchase of major equipment and instrumentation. Proposals are competitively evaluated, and awards are administered by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Army Research Office and the Office of Naval Research.
“DURIP awards build vital research infrastructure, advancing the exploration of novel ideas and upholding the cutting-edge capabilities of our academic institutions,” said Bindu Nair, director of the Basic Research Office in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “This funding helps guarantee the enduring scientific excellence of our universities, nurtures the development of the next STEM workforce, and catalyzes scientific innovations that will revolutionize military capabilities in the years ahead.”
Covey’s research project “Modular Quantum Computing with Optical Cavities and Transportable Atom Arrays” will be supported by the Army Research Office. Working on the problem of scaling quantum technology to sizes capable of performing significant calculations, he has proposed a new method for combining neutral atom arrays into larger quantum computers. It uses a “transportable” array of atoms to generate entanglement between multiple stationary arrays via an induced electric dipolar interaction between the stationary atoms as it passes, “connecting” them.
“The current state of the art for combining platforms requires transporting quantum information stored in photons, or particles of light, over optical connections,” Covey explained. “The problem is that this procedure is prone to loss, so it can be slow and inefficient. In our case, we’re doing something unique to the neutral atom platform. The use of an intermediary array means the operation is done in parallel, entangling 10,000 atoms at once. Doing this with many arrays in the same enclosure represents a feasible path to scalability.”
Gruev’s research project “Bioinspired Multispectral and Polarization Sensitive Cameras” will be supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Inspired by the complex and versatile eyes of the mantis shrimp, one of the most effective predatory animals in the world, he aims to develop a single-component sensor that simultaneously detects multiple facets of light. This includes wavelengths that our eyes do not detect, imperceptible subtleties in the ones that they do, and the phenomenon of polarization.
“As humans, we can only perceive color over a particular range of wavelengths, but there are animals in nature that simultaneously observe multiple spectra and polarization,” Gruev said. “The mantis shrimp is an incredibly successful predator in part because its visual system can perceive more colors than any other animal. A camera that mimics these abilities could tell us about an object’s composition, surface roughness and material properties all at once. The possible applications include medical imaging, disease detection, target tracking, industrial automation and beyond.”
Covey is a professor of physics in Illinois Grainger Engineering and a member of the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center in the Materials Research Laboratory at Illinois Grainger Engineering.
Gruev is a professor of electrical & computer engineering and of bioengineering in Illinois Grainger Engineering and a professor of biomedical and translational sciences in the Carle Illinois School of Medicine.