Federal agency name: defense advanced research projects agency (DARPA), defense sciences office (DSO) funding opportunity title: young faculty award (YFA) funding opportunity number:…

The Department of the Interior Departmental Offices Interior Business Center awarded a $500,000 cooperative agreement to the Regents of the University of Minnesota on September 30, 2025, under DARPA's Young Faculty Award program (CFDA 12.910, Research and Technology Development).

The University of Minnesota will experimentally demonstrate an electron hydrodynamics (EHD) refrigerator designed to accelerate quantum computing hardware scaling through a novel cooling principle. The project leverages the fluid-like viscous flow of electrons in ultrapure quantum materials to emulate classical fluid-based cooling devices, enabling active thermal management on quantum chips. The deliverable is an early-stage cryogenic cooling technology capable of providing on-demand cooling at critical locations on quantum chips, with the goal of improving energy efficiency by redistributing cooling power across quantum hardware. The work advances both fundamental knowledge in the emerging field of electron hydrodynamics and applied technology for quantum systems.

Performance occurs in Minnesota, USA, with a period of performance from September 30, 2025, through September 29, 2027. The University of Minnesota, operating through its Office of Sponsored Projects Administration, is a land-grant research institution with extensive capacity in federally-funded research across scientific domains including quantum technologies and advanced materials.

Federal agency name: defense advanced research projects agency (DARPA), defense sciences office (DSO) funding opportunity title: young faculty award (YFA) funding opportunity number: DARPARA2501CATALOG of federal domestic assistance (cfda) number(s): 12.910 research and technology developmentprogram description: DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals in the areas of interest to the following DARPA technical offices: defense sciences office (DSO), information innovation office (I2O), microsystems technology office (MTO), and the tactical technology office (TTO). Further detail regarding the specific technical areas of interest can be found below under open office topics. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice.objective: the overarching goal of this project is to accelerate the scaling of quantum computinghardware by exploring a new cooling principle. We will experimentally demonstrate a first-inclasselectron hydrodynamics (EHD) refrigerator by leveraging the fluid-like viscous flow ofelectrons in ultrapure quantum materials to emulate the widely used classical fluid-based coolingdevices. This innovative approach will not only advance the fundamental knowledge of theemerging field of EHD but also enable active thermal management on quantum chips. The potential impact is twofold: as a technological driver and a catalyst for advancing basicscience. Our primary goal is to deliver an early yet disruptive cryogenic cooling technology thattable i summary of existing MK cooling technologies. Can provide on-demand cooling at thecritical locations on a quantum chip. The proposed cooling scheme will significantly improve the energyefficiency of the existing DRS by redistributing the cooling power. If successful, the proposed device isexpected to lower the local temperature by 25% from a bath temperature of 100 MK. This will enable large-scale faulttolerantquantum computation. Moreover, the EHD effect in our materials persists up to 40 k, thus IT iscompatible with other cryogenic applications at a broader temperature range, such as cryogenichigh-performance computing for rapid decision-making, sensitive infrared superconductingdetectors for target detection and secured quantum communications. In addition to enabling disruptive cryogenic technologies, this project will also advanceinterdisciplinary basic science at the boundary between solid-state physics and fluid dynamics. We aim to explore a new class of quantum materials with EHD and understand the fundamentalphysics of EHD to unlock its potential and enable never-before-possible capabilities.