Dr. Tian Li, shown leading a demonstration at UTC’s recent Quantum Summer Camp for rising 10th-12th graders, is chief technology officer of the UTC Quantum Center and an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics. Photo by Angela Foster.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has received a $447,621 award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance quantum sensing technology, which can detect small environmental changes with extraordinary precision across large-scale fiber-optic networks.
The three-year project, funded under the NSF’s Communications, Circuits and Sensing-Systems (CCSS) program, is led by Dr. Tian Li, chief technology officer of the UTC Quantum Center and an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics. Guerry and UC Foundation Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering Don Reising serves as co-principal investigator. The project also involves a collaboration with Purdue University.
The project is titled “Sub-Shot-Noise Limited Distributed Quantum Sensing on a Commercial Metro-Scale Quantum Network via Deep-Learning-Aided Noise Suppression.”
“This NSF-funded collaborative project will position UTC as a national leader in quantum networking research,” Li said. “With UTC serving as the lead institution, we are driving the development of a secure, entanglement-based quantum network in the Southeast. In parallel, our collaboration with Purdue extends the vision toward long-distance quantum communication across regions. Together, these efforts lay critical groundwork for building a scalable and interoperable quantum internet.”
The research team will investigate how “squeezed light”—a form of light utilized in quantum optics—can enhance distributed quantum sensing. The project aims to demonstrate how this technology, which enables detection capabilities beyond classical limits, can be deployed on Chattanooga’s existing commercial, metro-scale fiber-optic infrastructure.
That infrastructure includes the EPB-built Bohr-IV Quantum Network, developed in partnership with IonQ, Inc., and features a reconfigurable architecture designed for scalable quantum experimentation.
By integrating quantum science with deep learning strategies, the researchers will test how real-time machine learning algorithms can suppress excess noise across the network without relying on conventional calibration signals. The team’s approach builds on techniques used in quantum key distribution but applies them to practical sensing scenarios, such as monitoring urban air quality or measuring fine-tuned vibrations, that benefit from high precision across vast areas.
“We are excited by Dr. Li’s recent success in gaining competitively awarded grant support from the National Science Foundation to advance and demonstrate quantum sensing leveraging the metropolitan quantum network in Chattanooga,” Vice Chancellor for Research Reinhold Mann said. “This project demonstrates the value of interdisciplinary team research conducted by experts at UTC and Purdue University that engages undergraduate and graduate students.”
For more information about the UTC Quantum Center, visit utc.edu/research/quantum-center.
Guerry and UC Foundation Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering Don Reising serves as co-principal investigator on the NSF-funded project.
