BENGALURU: What is said to be an eight-year-long mission is supposed to give the country a big leap in the realm of quantum technology. About Rs 6000 crore outlay was approved for a National Quantum mission (NQM) which was approved by the union cabinet recently.
Senior Adviser at the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Akhilesh Gupta on Monday addressing media persons in Bengaluru over a video conference said the National quantum mission has four verticals — quantum computing, quantum communications, quantum sensing and metrology and quantum materials and devices.
Each of the verticals will be coordinated by a thematic hub, formally established as a section eight company. Gupta said the DST would call for proposals in the future for the hubs which will be created on a consortium basis with one strong institute steering a vertical.
He said the research coming out of the mission might change the precision of the quantum clock, make GPS more accurate to a centimeter or metre level, and cause more precise sensors for water or mines underground. and the applications were enormous.
Researchers involved in quantum research in various national institutes in the city welcomed the decision of funding existing research and bringing in state-of-the-art equipment for the same.
Apoorva Patel, Professor, Centre for High Energy Physics, Indian Institute of Science said compared to the developments in the rest of the world in technical criterion, or precision of the instruments or the capability of the devices, we are five years behind. This is the starting point, he said, adding that the question is we have to figure out how to build on it without worrying too much about the competition.
Urbasi Sinha who heads the Quantum Information and Computing (QuIC) laboratory at Raman Research Institute (RRI) said the research in quantum communications will have implications in making data more secure.
Sadiq Rangwala, Professor of Light and Matter Physics, explained that quantum sensing and metrology domain already had implications in day-to-day usage — “You are indirect users of atomic clocks which give you your GPS information. Atomic clocks and further development of them is a challenging area. We have atomic clocks in the country at National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi, but we need to augment them into a network. A framework like the national mission can allow this to happen,” he added.
Subhro Bhattacharjee, Associate Professor, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), talking about quantum material and devices vertical, said material science development in India is at a ripe state and has many advanced labs. A mission like the NQM would help these labs in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Madras, and various other places to focus on materials that have desirable properties that can act as a backbone be it the atomic clock or the quantum computational devices.
The hubs that will be established will coordinate the required research activities to achieve the targets as listed out in the coordinate the required research activities to achieve the targets as listed out in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of NQM. They are expected to undertake translational research, incubate and support start-ups, and network with industries and international collaborators alongside running outreach programmes.
The mission would greatly benefit communication, health, finance and energy sectors as well as in drug design and space applications, said RRI in a note.
“The new mission targets the development of intermediate-scale quantum computers with 50-1000 physical qubits in 8 years in various platforms like superconducting and photonic technology. Satellite-based secure quantum communications between ground stations over a range of 2,000 kilometres within India, long-distance secure quantum communications with other countries, inter-city quantum key distribution over 2,000 km as well as multi-node quantum networks with quantum memories are among other deliverables. The mission will help develop very accurate sensors for precision timing, communications and navigation as well fabrication of novel materials for quantum devices,” it added.
Senior Adviser at the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Akhilesh Gupta on Monday addressing media persons in Bengaluru over a video conference said the National quantum mission has four verticals — quantum computing, quantum communications, quantum sensing and metrology and quantum materials and devices.
Each of the verticals will be coordinated by a thematic hub, formally established as a section eight company. Gupta said the DST would call for proposals in the future for the hubs which will be created on a consortium basis with one strong institute steering a vertical.
He said the research coming out of the mission might change the precision of the quantum clock, make GPS more accurate to a centimeter or metre level, and cause more precise sensors for water or mines underground. and the applications were enormous.
Researchers involved in quantum research in various national institutes in the city welcomed the decision of funding existing research and bringing in state-of-the-art equipment for the same.
Apoorva Patel, Professor, Centre for High Energy Physics, Indian Institute of Science said compared to the developments in the rest of the world in technical criterion, or precision of the instruments or the capability of the devices, we are five years behind. This is the starting point, he said, adding that the question is we have to figure out how to build on it without worrying too much about the competition.
Urbasi Sinha who heads the Quantum Information and Computing (QuIC) laboratory at Raman Research Institute (RRI) said the research in quantum communications will have implications in making data more secure.
Sadiq Rangwala, Professor of Light and Matter Physics, explained that quantum sensing and metrology domain already had implications in day-to-day usage — “You are indirect users of atomic clocks which give you your GPS information. Atomic clocks and further development of them is a challenging area. We have atomic clocks in the country at National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi, but we need to augment them into a network. A framework like the national mission can allow this to happen,” he added.
Subhro Bhattacharjee, Associate Professor, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), talking about quantum material and devices vertical, said material science development in India is at a ripe state and has many advanced labs. A mission like the NQM would help these labs in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Madras, and various other places to focus on materials that have desirable properties that can act as a backbone be it the atomic clock or the quantum computational devices.
The hubs that will be established will coordinate the required research activities to achieve the targets as listed out in the coordinate the required research activities to achieve the targets as listed out in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of NQM. They are expected to undertake translational research, incubate and support start-ups, and network with industries and international collaborators alongside running outreach programmes.
The mission would greatly benefit communication, health, finance and energy sectors as well as in drug design and space applications, said RRI in a note.
“The new mission targets the development of intermediate-scale quantum computers with 50-1000 physical qubits in 8 years in various platforms like superconducting and photonic technology. Satellite-based secure quantum communications between ground stations over a range of 2,000 kilometres within India, long-distance secure quantum communications with other countries, inter-city quantum key distribution over 2,000 km as well as multi-node quantum networks with quantum memories are among other deliverables. The mission will help develop very accurate sensors for precision timing, communications and navigation as well fabrication of novel materials for quantum devices,” it added.
