Established in January 2000 through funds from the Australian Research Council and participating institutions, the Centre has nodes at the following institutions; University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, University of Melbourne, UNSW@ADFA, Department of Defence, Griffith University, Macquarie University and University of Sydney. The nodes maintain an important collaboration on this project with Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States. The Centre encompasses major research infrastructure at each of the eight nodes, including an extensive semiconductor nanofabrication facility, crystal growth, ion implantation, surface analysis, laser physics, high magnetic fields/low temperatures, and has substantial theoretical support.