Quantum physics is a famously challenging idea to grasp – a series of interactions between atomic and subatomic particles whose behaviour often seems to contradict our own experience of the world.
At the quantum level, for example, particles can become entangled, and exert instant influence over each other. A paired particle set spinning in one direction will cause its entangled counterpart to spin identically too, no matter how great the distance between them. It’s a concept which sometimes baffled even Albert Einstein, a quantum mechanics pioneer who nonetheless called entanglement "spooky action at a distance".
But in the decades since Einstein first grappled with quantum physics, scientists have found ways to harness its strange properties to enable transformative new technologies.
The spin of entangled electrons can be used to encode information, adding a new dimension to the binary zeroes and ones of digital computers to create qubits, the building blocks of future quantum computers, which are potentially vastly more powerful than today’s most advanced systems.
Entangled photons can also be used to create new ways of seeing. Quantum cameras can construct previously impossible images of methane gas leaks or faults in solar panels, helping to support our drive to net zero. New microscopes and endoscopes can create improved realtime 3D scans of our organs and bones, driving advances in diagnostics and treatment.
We use quantum effects all the time in our daily lives – transistors and lasers are examples – and the UK is positioning itself as a global leader in the field. The UK Government recently announced a £2.5 billion investment in quantum R&D over the next decade, building on £1bn pledged to create four quantum technology hubs in 2014.
At the University of Glasgow, which is home to some of the world’s leading quantum researchers, we’re proud to be playing a key role in the quantum revolution.
We lead QuantIC, the UK’s quantum enhanced imaging hub, and we play vital roles in the other hubs which focus on sensors, computing and communications. We work closely with more than 50 industry partners to commercialise our research breakthroughs.
Our Centre for Quantum Technology brings together physicists, engineers and computer scientists to develop and apply new quantum research, while the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre builds the tiny prototypes needed to demonstrate these new technologies.
This year, we’re aiming to make Glasgow an international centre for quantum technologies by establishing the National Institute for Quantum Integration (NiQi). We have already secured funding from the Levelling Up – Innovation Accelerator Fund to support a NiQi pilot project.
If our bid for further funding is successful, NiQi will bring together the six leading UK academic nanofabrication facilities with the National Physics Laboratory, and create a new National Integration Hub in Glasgow as a global front door to this UK capability. We’ll work to boost the country’s ability to build advanced circuits at the smallest scales while reducing their cost, helping to speed industry uptake of quantum tech.
There’s still lots of work to be done to translate fundamental research into everyday life. But in Glasgow, we’re ready to play our part in making that quantum leap into the future.
Professor John Marsh is director of the University of Glasgow’s James Watt Nanofabrication Centre
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