DARPA launches SAVaNT program, selects eight teams to advance room-temperature atomic vapor tech
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has selected eight industry and university research teams for its Science of Atomic Vapors for New Technologies (SAVaNT) program, a new effort that kicked off this week to push the performance limits of room‑temperature atomic vapor systems for the Department of Defense.
DARPA said an additional performer has been selected and is expected to be on contract in the coming months. SAVaNT aims to translate advances in quantum information science and sensing into practical defense capabilities by sidestepping a long‑standing obstacle: the bulky, complex equipment required to cool and trap atoms in many quantum systems.
Instead, the selected teams will focus on warm atomic vapors, which operate at or near room temperature, avoid laser‑cooling apparatus, and allow the use of larger numbers of atoms to boost signal strength. The tradeoff, DARPA noted, is that thermal effects at room temperature can significantly limit how long quantum coherence lasts.
“Vapor‑based technologies operate at or near room temperature without complex laser cooling and trapping and still offer the advantages derived from the pristine nature of atoms,” said Tatjana Curcic, program manager in DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office.
“We are excited about the quality of performers in SAVaNT who will push the performance of atomic vapors to the limit of what is possible.” According to DARPA, the program is designed to lay foundations for technologies that address key Defense Department needs and gaps, including applications requiring low size, weight and power (SWaP), high‑sensitivity electric and magnetic field measurements, and quantum information science use cases that depend on strong atom‑light coupling.
The common scientific challenge across the effort is improving quantum coherence in atomic vapors at room temperature. SAVaNT will proceed in two phases across three technical areas where atomic vapors are expected to have the greatest impact: Rydberg electrometry, vector magnetometry, and vapor quantum electrodynamics (vQED).
Phase 1 will focus on demonstrating the underlying physics to address technical hurdles. Phase 2 will move to an integrated benchtop physics package and characterize the performance trade space. DARPA said the research teams plan to leverage different approaches to maintain quantum coherence at room temperature.
As the program advances through its phases, DARPA expects the work to clarify what performance is achievable from room‑temperature vapor systems and how those capabilities can be engineered into future defense applications.