Major European grant boosts quantum research at Heriot-Watt University
Future quantum networks promise exciting technology advances that could revolutionise fields ranging from cybersecurity to healthcare and energy. But to make them practical and affordable, significant scientific challenges must be overcome.
Professor Mehul Malik, from the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, has been awarded a grant of more than £2.6 million by the European Research Council (ERC) to address some of the most pressing issues.
The ERC Consolidator Grant QUEST will fund research into how the multi-modal properties of light – its structure in space and time, or its colour - can be used to develop next-generation quantum technologies for computing and networking. These technologies are based not on electrical signals but on the connections between particles of light.
The focus of the five-year project is entanglement, a key building block for many quantum applications. Professor Malik said: “We are trying to develop entirely new ways to efficiently generate entanglement and distribute it over large-scale optical fibre networks."
What makes Professor Malik’s project different is its focus on harnessing the spatial and temporal properties of light.
As Professor Malik explained, “we know that light can carry information on its spatial structure in the form of images, or its temporal profile such as pulses. Interestingly, single quantum particles of light – photons – can be shaped and sculpted in a similar manner.
“We are aiming to use these properties to enhance or build advanced quantum technologies for entanglement generation, measurement and distribution.”
There are several obstacles to overcome. How do you develop very bright and on-demand sources of entanglement? How do you send it over large distances? And how do you measure complex quantum states of light? The ERC project QUEST will aim to answer many of these questions.
Vital blue-sky thinking
Small-scale quantum networks are already being used by some financial firms, and the technology is attracting a lot of investment from industry and governments. But Professor Malik stressed the importance of research that is blue-sky, or curiosity driven, rather than commercially targeted.
“What we are able to do in an academic research environment, is to really explore blue-sky ideas that companies cannot, or will not, because they are too risky or not immediately commercially viable.
“Grants such as these allow us to explore new scientific ideas that, while carrying some level of risk, are very ambitious. And if they work, it will be very exciting for the field, and eventually society at-large.”
The ERC promotes and enables the kind of blue-sky research that is driving this technology forward. Professor Malik explained, “it’s an essential link in the process to making it practical, affordable and available at scale.”
The funding from the EU’s Horizon Europe programme supports cutting-edge research in 25 EU member states. As this year’s recipients were announced, the President of the European Research Council, Professor Maria Leptin, said: “To see all this talent with groundbreaking ideas, based in Europe, is truly inspiring.
“This bold research may well lead to new industries, improve lives and strengthen Europe’s global standing.
This was one of the most competitive ERC calls ever. It is yet another reminder of how urgent the call for increased EU investment in frontier research has become.”
Professor Malik will lead an international team of scientists based in his research group, the Beyond Binary Quantum Information Lab (BBQLab). He said some of the work proposed will build on extensive current collaboration within Heriot-Watt, as well as benefit from Heriot-Watt’s role in the UK National Quantum Technology Hubs for Integrated Quantum Networks (IQN) and Quantum Sensing, Imaging and Timing (QuSIT).