The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has created a Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Quantum Technologies to consolidate IIT Delhi’s research activity in diverse disciplines of Quantum Technologies.
The CoE will promote synergy and coherence among the institute’s operations and assist principal investigators in securing additional funding from the DST and other funding bodies.
Rajendra Singh, Head, School of Interdisciplinary Research (SIRe) and lead PI, IIT Delhi’s CoE on Quantum Technologies, stated, “Over the last century or more, quantum physics has had an unparalleled impact on civilisation. Researchers invented both the laser and the transistor by utilising quantum physics properties of light and materials. These inventions serve as the foundation for information technology as a whole – computers, the internet, and much more – which has altered our society to a considerable extent. That was the start of the first quantum revolution. The second quantum revolution is rapidly approaching, owing to advances in our ability to detect and manipulate single quantum objects such as photons and atoms.”
“The focus areas would include quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum sensing and metrology, and quantum materials and devices,” Prof Singh stated when asked about the precise target areas for quantum technology research at IIT Delhi.
Along with the design and development of new quantum materials, the centre conducts research on quantum processors and cryogenic controllers, semiconductor cubics such as CMOS and 2D materials, quantum sensing and measurement, and quantum biophotonics. Additionally, single-photon detectors and light sources based on semiconductors (two-dimensional materials, III-V), superconductors, and others will be developed.
