Ginsburg Center for Quantum Precision Hosts Dedication Ceremony

On June 17, professors, students, alumni, donors, state and local government representatives, and industry partners gathered to celebrate the dedication of the Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Center for Quantum Precision Measurement at Caltech, a new center that will serve as a locus for a wide range of research in quantum science and quantum technologies of the future.

"The notion of a place where you can bring together people who think about important problems from very different directions is very Caltech. And this building, in a lot of ways, represents the best of what Caltech is about," said Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum, the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of physics, at the dedication ceremony. In addition to quantum sciences, the center "opens opportunities in biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, and computer science," he said.

The occasion marked three years since ground was first broken on the modern 70,000-square-foot building on the south side of campus. The building was made possible with lead gifts from Broadcom, the Duan Family, Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg, and a grant from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, in addition to several smaller gifts.

At the ceremony, Dr. Allen Ginsburg said that his excitement about working with Caltech stemmed in part from endeavors such as NASA's Voyager mission, humanity's longest-running spacecraft. Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is itself managed by Caltech, the Voyager mission's twin probes launched in 1977 and are still communicating with Earth from interstellar space today. "It all really started with Caltech," he said. He and his wife are optimistic about the future, he said, citing the powerful combination of "beautiful minds, artificial intelligence, and quantum computers."

Charlotte Ginsburg said, "Today, when we toured the building, it was so beautiful beyond our dreams, and we're so privileged to be involved with Caltech and everything you've done here."

Bonnie Burke Himmelman, who served as the president of the Sherman Fairchild Foundation for many years (her son, Jeff Himmelman, is now the head of the foundation), also gave remarks. "The history of the collaboration between the foundation and Caltech is both long and varied. We have given over 36 grants since the 1970s."

Himmelman spoke of the relationship between her late father, Walter Burke, the founding director of the Sherman Fairchild Foundation and life member of the Caltech Board of Trustees, and Kip S. Thorne (BS '62), Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, Emeritus, and co-recipient of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for his founding role in LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory). In 2015, LIGO, which is managed by Caltech and MIT, made the first detection of ripples in space-time, called gravitational waves.

"So, the question I asked is what was unique about the friendship between Walter Burke, Kip Thorne, and Caltech as an institution?" she said. "They appreciated each other's intellectual curiosity and, in their own ways, they were both risk takers—Kip in the world of science and my dad in the world of investment and in venture capital specifically. Equally important, they respected each other's accomplishments in different fields." (In 2014, Caltech and the Sherman Fairchild Foundation honored Burke with the creation of the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics.)

Brand-New Hub

The five-story building will include interaction spaces and offices located atop state-of-the-art underground laboratories. The spaces include the Duan Family Institute for Fundamental Quantum Sciences, which encompasses the Ginsburg Center and the adjoining Downs and Lauritsen laboratories; the Broadcom Quantum Laboratory; and the Sherman Fairchild Foundation-funded Kip Thorne Laboratories.

The impetus for the new Ginsburg Center grew from the need to gather experts who probe the quantum realm, the most fundamental level of our universe, where particles exist in seemingly improbable states, such as superposition, in which they are in two places at once, and entanglement, in which particles share certain traits without being in direct contact. Researchers at Caltech are investigating quantum particles for different purposes, including building quantum computers of the future; measuring gravitational waves; and studying quantum gravity theories, which attempt to connect the microscopic world of quantum physics to Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, a theory of the large-scale structure of space and time.

While the scientists have common interests, they did not have a common hub on campus.

"We have been scattered across campus," says John Preskill, the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics and the Allen V. C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair of the Institute for Quantum Information and Science, or IQIM, which will be headquartered in the new building. "This building is bringing a lot of us together. The random collisions that will take place between researchers studying related problems and between theorists and experimentalists will spark new ideas. It will be fabulous for our research culture."

The focus of research in the building will be a growing field called quantum precision science, in which scientists aim to control and measure collections of quantum particles with the most precision ever achieved. The latest advances from LIGO are a shining example of this approach. In 2023, LIGO researchers successfully employed an advanced technique called frequency-dependent quantum squeezing to skirt around inherent uncertainties in quantum physics and make the most precise measurements achieved to date. The LIGO measurements detect subtle changes to space-time induced by gravitational waves that emanate from black holes across the cosmos.

"Quantum precision science is a very fast-moving field with lots of synergies," says Fiona Harrison, the Harold A. Rosen Professor of Physics and chair of Caltech's Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy (PMA) from 2013 to 2025, who helped spearhead the development of the Ginsburg Center. "We wanted to gather scientists across relevant disciplines in theory as well as experiment to encourage a lot of interaction and to share space and equipment."

Other researchers moving into the building, such as assistant professor of physics Nelson Darkwah Oppong, will study optical atomic clocks—the most precise clocks in the world. These devices lock a laser to the natural resonance of atoms; that laser light oscillates hundreds of trillions of times per second, giving the clock its ticks. A state-of-the-art optical atomic clock is precise enough to detect differences in the flow of time if the clock is moved up or down less than a tenth of an inch, a consequence of Einstein's general theory of relativity.

The clocks' extraordinary sensitivity makes them powerful tools not only for keeping time but also for probing the world around us. They can be used to test fundamental laws of physics and improve technologies that rely on precision timing, such as satellite-based navigation. Among the questions to be explored in the new building is how tools from quantum computing can make these clocks even better and how the clocks themselves might help build future quantum technologies.

Quantum precision techniques are at the forefront of the quest to create quantum computers. Caltech researchers who are working on quantum computers based on neutral atoms, in which individual atoms are trapped by laser tweezers, will occupy portions of the building. They will be in close proximity to colleagues in the laboratory of Professor of Physics Manuel Endres, a leading expert in developing neutral-atom quantum computers. Endres's lab is based in the George W. Downs Laboratory of Physics and the Charles C. Lauritsen Laboratory of High Energy Physics, also known as Downs-Lauritsen, which will be connected to the Ginsburg Center via an underground tunnel.

Meanwhile, theorists such as Xie Chen, the Eddleman Professor of Theoretical Physics and director of the Burke Institute, will also move into the building. Chen studies the exotic, emergent properties that arise from large ensembles of entangled particles, also known as quantum many-body systems.

"It's amazing how people from different perspectives can see things very differently and then totally inspire each other," Chen said in a Caltech video about the Ginsburg Center. "It's predictable actually that a new building and new interaction space would lead to new ideas and breakthroughs in quantum science."

Charlie Kawwas, the president of the semiconductor solutions group at Broadcom, also spoke at the dedication ceremony: "As you probably all know, AI is dominating every discussion today, especially with my children and also my employees," he said. "However, when we look beyond AI, and we take a look at the long-term horizon, especially for technologies that we can turn into products, we truly believe that the potential of quantum computing is even greater, deeper, and more disruptive than AI."

The building itself sits on a compact site where an older physics building was demolished in 2016, located between the Ronald and Maxine Linde Hall of Mathematics and Physics and the Downs-Lauritsen building. The lead architect for the project is HOK, which designed the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and other notable buildings worldwide. The choice supports Caltech's emphasis on sustainable design, an HOK specialty. The Ginsburg Center is aiming for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification. Charles Pankow Builders later joined the team as the contractor for building the new facility.

Quiet Down Below

Because making precise measurements requires extremely stable environments, the labs have been exquisitely designed to have minimal vibrations and humidity, and extreme temperature control. All labs are located 28 feet below ground with a 3-foot contiguous slab beneath the entire lab area.

"By anchoring the entire facility to this single heavy foundation, we can completely neutralize surface vibrations and achieve an ultra-stable environment for quantum precision measurements," says Eugene Kim, team lead for planning, design, and construction at Caltech. "While chemistry and biology buildings are all about exhausting chemicals and fumes, this building and lab environment were built to be ultra stable. Having California Boulevard so close, with all its heavy traffic, was a challenge, but these labs are very quiet. You can't hear or feel from the street at all."

Each lab has its own dedicated air-handling system, and the labs are designed to accommodate precision thermal control. The labs are wrapped in extensive electromagnetic shielding to block ambient radio waves and campus electronics from disrupting sensitive quantum states.

Building Bridges

To maximize collaboration and encourage more chance encounters, the center will feature a bridge between the top floors of the Ginsburg Center and Downs-Lauritsen, home to the Burke Institute and the Caltech particle theory group. This connection reflects rapidly expanding opportunities to apply quantum technology to explorations of fundamental physics.

At the dedication ceremony, Hirosi Ooguri, the Fred Kavli Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics at Caltech and the current Kent and Joyce Kresa Leadership Chair of PMA, compared the bridge and tunnel between Ginsburg and Downs-Lauritsen to a mathematical field called topology. In topology, a ball and a doughnut—essentially a ball with a hole in it—represent different states.

"The bridge above and tunnel below do more than connect two buildings," he said. "Together they form a loop. In that sense, we have changed the topology of Caltech physics. In physics, a change in topology can lead to qualitatively new phenomena in quantum material that has been central in our progress in quantum science. I hope this new connectivity will have a similar effect on our community: new conversations, new patterns of thought and discoveries none of us could have planned."

Design elements of the Ginsburg building reflect the beauty of the quantum realm. A transparent façade is inflected inward on its south and west sides to suggest a prism or the bending of space-time, while fins on the glass curtain wall form a pattern that subtly references the famous double-slit experiment, which demonstrated that light and matter exhibit the behavior of both particles and waves. Some of the windows are also adorned with tiny dots representing quantum particles, and the paving patterns in the plaza are arranged to mimic quantum circuits.

"We are removing barriers and silos, putting together all the ingredients, and out of this, the magic will happen," Harrison says.