As quantum communications, computing and other technologies connect the world, leading researchers from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) and Imperial College London (ICL) are forging their own ties.
UChicago PME hosted a group of visiting academics from the UK-based public research university to trade ideas, insights and research presentations. The week of events included workshops, lectures and lab tours at UChicago PME as well as nearby national laboratories Argonne and Fermilab.
“The rich ecosystem around quantum activities that we have in Chicago was born within the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering,” said UChicago PME Prof. Giulia Galli, faculty co-host of the event. “It’s a very tightly connected network including universities, industry and national labs, one based at its core around an integration between theory, computation and experiments.”
Galli said public-private partnership programs like the Chicago Quantum Exchange, headed by UChicago PME Prof. David Awschalom, are vital to take quantum innovations from the laboratory to the marketplace.
Kyle Dolan, Head of Science and Innovation for the UK Science and Technology Network at the British Consulate-General Chicago said the partnership between UK and US researchers was a natural one.
“As two world-leading nations for quantum information science and technology, cooperation between UK and US researchers will speed the development of exciting new innovations that will drive our countries' future economic growth,” Dolan said. “We are pleased to support engagements such as the Imperial-UChicago Quantum Workshop as vehicles to foster academic collaborations addressing critical questions in topics such as quantum materials and device design, harnessing our respective expertise and capabilities.”
ICL Professor of Theory and Simulation of Materials Peter Haynes said the private sector has always been a core component of the British quantum strategy.
“One of the strengths of the UK program was the fact that from the very beginning, government did engage both agencies and private companies as well into the program,” Haynes said. “That sort of collaboration has been there from the very start.”
Faculty co-host UChicago PME Prof. Liang Jiang provided an overview of his research on vacuum beam guides for quantum networks. Jiang stressed, however, that quantum itself doesn't happen in a vacuum.
“Events like these remind the quantum community that we are not working alone,” Jiang said. “Connecting with peers at ICL on quantum optics and various other applications is both an intellectually invigorating process and a productive one.”