Project DRIFT
Degradation Regimes In Iterated Field Transformations
DRIFT is a pure-research program studying what happens to quantum states under repeated, non-trivial field transformations. We work the unglamorous part of the problem: operator ordering, decoherence pathways, and the regime boundaries where a state moves from recoverable to genuinely degraded. The research is patient, the timelines are long, and the deliverables are papers and protocols, not products.
What we're actually studying
Operator ordering effects
When a quantum state passes through a sequence of non-commuting field operators, the order matters. We study how that order interacts with state preparation, environmental coupling, and measurement-back-action to produce or avoid degradation.
Stability thresholds
Most quantum-state transformations have a regime where small perturbations are recoverable and a regime where they cascade. We are mapping where those thresholds sit for the families of transformations relevant to error correction and metrology.
Iterated dynamics
Iteration is where toy models stop being toys. Single-shot transformations hide fixed-point behavior, attractors, and slow-decay modes that only surface under repetition. DRIFT focuses specifically on the iterated case.
Degradation taxonomy
Not all degradation is the same. Coherent drift, incoherent decay, state-collapse-to-classical, and basin-jumping each have different experimental signatures and different mitigations. We are building a cleaner taxonomy of how iterated transformations fail.
Research instruments
QUANTA, the quantum-computing education platform built at Axion Deep Labs, is also an instrument for DRIFT. QUANTA simulates circuits up to 16 qubits with a drag-and-drop builder and real-time Bloch-sphere visualization. The same simulator that students use to learn Grover's algorithm doubles as a testbed where we can run iterated-transformation experiments cheaply, log every intermediate state, and reproduce findings deterministically.
Education and research code paths are kept strictly separate. The dual-use governance framework documents exactly where the instruments converge and where they don't.
Governance
Quantum-computing research has dual-use exposure by default. We treat it that way. DRIFT operates under a 33-document governance framework that covers language separation between education and research artifacts, contributor agreements, export-control review checkpoints, and publication review.
The framework is internal infrastructure, not marketing copy. It exists so that when the research produces something interesting, we already know the answer to the question of how it gets shared.
Funding posture
DRIFT is funded internally today and is targeting external research funding from federal R&D agencies appropriate for fundamental quantum work, including SBIR/STTR programs, NSF, DOE, and DARPA. The compensation structure for founding researchers is points-based and contingent on grant funding to align incentives with long-horizon outcomes.
We are not pursuing private capital for DRIFT specifically. The work is too early and the returns too patient for a venture timeline. If you are a program officer, an academic collaborator, or an applied researcher who cares about the iterated regime, we want to talk to you.
What we publish
Papers
Peer-reviewed and preprint research output. Quality and reproducibility over volume.
Protocols
Reproducible experimental protocols, configs, and seeds. If a finding cannot be reproduced, we treat it as not yet a finding.
Negative results
Where the data says no, we say no. Negative-result writeups are part of the contract.