India’s Quantum Leap: The Promise in India’s National Quantum Mission

Why in News?

• To realise the vision of building a self-reliant technology base,the National Quantum Mission could be a game changer.
• However, like any other technology, quantum technology will also need material innovation - R&D in “Quantum Materials.”

 

The National Quantum Mission (NQM)

• India is the sixth country to have a dedicated quantum mission after the US, Austria, Finland, France, and China.
• NQM will fund R&D in quantum computing technology and associated applications and will have defined milestones that are expected to be achieved over the course of eight years (2023-24 to 2030-31).
• Four thematic hubs/T-Hubs with a focus on quantum computing, communication, sensing and metrology, and materials and devices will be established in India's leading academic and national R&D institutes.

 

Objectives of the Mission:

• Create intermediate-scale quantum computers with 50-1000 qubits in the next eight years.
• Establish satellite-based secure quantum communications between ground stations within India, as well as with other countries, covering a range of 2000 km.
• It will look to provide intercity quantum key distribution over 2000 km, multi-node quantum network with quantum memories.
• It will help to advance atomic technology with highly sensitive magnetometers and precision atomic clocks that serve communication, navigation, and timing.
• It will aid in designing and synthesising quantum materials, including superconductors, novel semiconductor structures, and topological materials for the fabrication of quantum devices.

 

What are Quantum Materials?

• The concept of “quantum materials” was originally introduced to identify some of the exotic quantum systems, including unconventional superconductors, heavy fermion systems, and multi-functional oxides.
• Quantum materials are a class of matter or systems that allow us to exploit some of the unique properties of quantum physics and accomplish tasks that classical technology is incapable of.
• It is now a powerful unifying concept across diverse fields of science and engineering.

 

What entails R&D in Quantum Materials?

• R&D in quantum materials encompasses traditional semiconductors, superconductors, and non-linear optical crystals directly relevant to computing, communication ,and sensing.
• The research encompasses materials built on complex interaction between charge and atoms.
• Also, materials that are a creation of the more “hidden” properties of quantum physics, such as quantum entanglement - the ability of a particle to influence the behaviour of another with whom it had an earlier ‘interaction’, even when they are separated by arbitrarily great distances.
• Research will be required to develop low-loss materials for superconducting quantum electronics that preserve quantum information over a long period.
• The impact of much of the research cuts across multiple verticals of quantum technologies, and this necessitates dedicated and centralised material/device infrastructures

 

Benefits of investing in Quantum Materials

• Streamline requirements for Quantum Technology
  • This will allow streamlining the material and device requirements for the core quantum technology.
  • The quantum materials and devices component of the National Quantum Mission will bring innovation in the field under a common umbrella.
• Synergising the scattered workforce and Minimising Redundancy
  • Synergising the diverse and geographically distributed material workforce in India to achieve mission deliverables, and
  • And it will ensure efficient resource utilisation as well as minimising redundancy and duplication.
• Home Grown R&D Programme and Multi-Disciplinary Approach: It will have a project-driven multi-disciplinary approach and develop strategies as well as an in-house R&D programme to
• Less Dependency on Imports: Materials and devices-based innovation will create new businesses from manufacturing supporting equipment which India currently imports to high-end specialised devices,suchassemiconductor-basedsingle-photondetectors,atthebulkscale.
• Can generate a cadre of highly skilled workforce: As India is set to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027, a strongly networked material infrastructure in the country will be crucial and the process can generate a cadre of highly skilled workforce.
• Cater to not just quantum but also other scientific mega projects: Ranging from the semiconductor mission to neutrino observatory and gravitational wave detection.

 

Requirements to Enable the Investment

• Leveraging the evolving scientific infrastructure in the country and aligning with some of the key national mandates.
  • For example, capacity building in the past two decades under national initiatives, such as the Nano Mission, has enabled a five-fold increase in research publications in this area between 2011 and 2019.

 

Challenges Associated with the Investment

• Less focus on Manufacturing
  • Currently nearly 12 per cent start-ups are deep tech-related. This represents an early 35 times increase between 2016 and2019.
  • However less than 3 percent of these involve manufacturing materials.
• Lack of Infrastructure: India lacks enough infrastructure that can support the entire chain of operation from working out the proof-of-principle to developing working prototypes.
• Sub-critical size of R&D community
  • The sub-critical size of the country’s R&D community
  • In2018,India had 253 full-time equivalent researchers per million of its population, about 11 percent of the researcher density of Italy.
• Scattered Workforce: The workforce is distributed across the country.

 

What should be the government's strategy?

• Integration of Scattered Workforce: Strategies will be required to integrate the initiatives of the demographically scattered human resources.
• Focus on extensive Goal-Oriented Research
  • The National Quantum mission will require a significant component of materials research to be carried out in goal-oriented multi-institutional consortia.
  • This will demand strategic recruitment of new talent, synergistic multi-institutional collaboration and political will to ease bureaucratic norms and prevent delays in infrastructure building to ensure that the mission’s deadlines are met.
• Develop a Well-balanced R&D Ecosystem: Where material research for near-term goals and applications needs to coexist and collaborate with those with more fundamental and futuristic objectives.
• Timely investment: For India to emerge a global leader in the field the government should focus on timely investment and efficient management.

Conclusion

• Material domains in all aspects of quantum technology; computing, communications, and sensing are still developing.
• A well-balanced focus on R&D, timely investment and efficient management with fundamental and futuristic objectives will bring assured outcomes for India.

 

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Q1) Where does Quantum Technology find applications? 

From breaking every known encryption to creating unhackable encryptions. From developing new drugs that could treat currently cureless diseases to managing a vast number of autonomous vehicles. From agriculture and education to aerospace and advanced manufacturing — the applications are extensive and transformative.

 

Q2) What is the objective of the National Quantum Mission? 

The new mission targets developing intermediate scale quantum computers with 50-1000 physical qubits in eight 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 network with quantum memories are also some of the deliverables of the mission.

 

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Source: The Indian Express