2 In quantum cryptography, who eavesdrops on Alice and Bob?
(Courtesy: Andy Roberts IBM Research/Science Photo Library)
3 Which artist made the Quantum Cloud sculpture in London?
4 IBM used which kind of atoms to create its Quantum Mirage image?
5 When Werner Heisenberg developed quantum mechanics on Helgoland in June 1925, he had travelled to the island to seek respite from what? A His allergies B His creditors C His funders D His lovers
6 According to the State of Quantum 2024 report, how many countries around the world had government initiatives in quantum technology at the time of writing? A 6 B 17 C 24 D 33
7 The E91 quantum cryptography protocol was invented in 1991. What does the E stand for? A Edison B Ehrenfest C Einstein D Ekert
8 British multinational consumer-goods firm Reckitt sells a “Quantum” version of which of its household products? A Air Wick freshener B Finish dishwasher tablets C Harpic toilet cleaner D Vanish stain remover
9 John Bell’s famous theorem of 1964 provides a mathematical framework for understanding what quantum paradox? A Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen B Quantum indefinite causal order C Schrödinger’s cat D Wigner’s friend
10 Which celebrated writer popularized the notion of Schrödinger’s cat in the mid-1970s? A Douglas Adams B Margaret Atwood C Arthur C Clarke D Ursula K le Guin
11 Which of these isn’t an interpretation of quantum mechanics? A Copenhagen B Einsteinian C Many worlds D Pilot wave
12 Which of these companies is not a real quantum company? A Qblox B Qruise C Qrypt D Qtips
13 Which celebrity was spotted in the audience at a meeting about quantum computers and music in London in December 2022? A Peter Andre B Peter Capaldi C Peter Gabriel D Peter Schmeichel
14 What of the following birds has not yet been chosen by IBM as the name for different versions of its quantum hardware? A Condor B Eagle C Flamingo D Peregrine
15 When quantum theorist Erwin Schrödinger fled Nazi-controlled Vienna in 1938, where did he hide his Nobel-prize medal? A In a filing cabinet B Under a pot plant C Behind a sofa D In a desk drawer
16 Which of the following versions of the quantum Hall effect has not been observed so far in the lab? A Fractional quantum Hall effect B Anomalous fractional quantum Hall effect C Anyonic fractional quantum Hall effect D Excitonic fractional quantum Hall effect
17 What did Quantum Coffee on Front Street West in Toronto call its recently launched pastry, which is a superposition of a croissant and muffin? A Croissin B Cruffin C Muffant D Muffcro
18 What destroyed the Helgoland guest house where Heisenberg stayed in 1925 while developing quantum mechanics? A A bomb B A gas leak C A rat infestation D A storm
This quiz is for fun and there are no prizes. Answers will be revealed on the Physics World website in April.
This article forms part of Physics World‘s contribution to the 2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), which aims to raise global awareness of quantum physics and its applications.
Stayed tuned to Physics World and our international partners throughout the next 12 months for more coverage of the IYQ.
As physicists, we like to think that physics and politics are – indeed, ought to be – unconnected. And a lot of the time, that’s true.
Certainly, the value of the magnetic moment of the muon or the behaviour of superconductors in a fusion reactor (look out for our feature article next week) have nothing do with where anyone sits on the political spectrum. It’s subjects like climate change, evolution and medical research that tend to get caught in the political firing line.
But scientists of all disciplines in the US are now feeling the impact of politics at first hand. The new administration of Donald Trump has ordered the National Institutes of Health to slash the “indirect” costs of its research projects, threatening medical science and putting the universities that support it at risk. The National Science Foundation, which funds much of US physics, is under fire too, with staff sacked and grant funding paused.
Trump has also signed a flurry of executive orders that, among other things, ban federal government initiatives to boost diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and instruct government departments to “combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs and activities”. Some organizations are already abandoning such efforts for fear of these future repercussions.
What’s troubling for physics is that attacks on diversity initiatives fall most heavily on people from under-represented groups, who are more likely to quit physics or not go into it in the first place. That’s bad news for our subject as a whole because we know that a diverse community brings in smart ideas, new approaches and clever thinking.
The speed of changes in the US is bewildering too. Yes, the proportion from federal grants for indirect costs might be too high, but making dramatic changes at short notice, with no consultation is bizarre. There’s also a danger that universities will try to recoup lost money by raising tuition fees, which will hit poorer students the hardest.
So far, it’s been left to senior leaders such as James Gates – a theoretical physicist at the University of Maryland – to warn of the dangers in store. “My country,” he said at an event earlier this month, “is in for a 50-year period of a new dark ages.”
Whether it’s the Olympics or the FIFA World Cup, all big global events need a cheeky, fun mascot. So welcome to Quinnie – the official mascot for the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ) 2025.
Unveiled at the launch of the IYQ at the headquarters of UNESCO in Paris on 4 February, Quinnie has been drawn by Jorge Cham, the creator of the long-running cartoon strip PHD Comics.
Quinnie was developed for UNESCO in a collaboration between Cham and PhysicsMagazine, which is published by the American Physical Society (APS) – one of the founding partners of IYQ.
Riding high Quinnie surfing on a quantum wave function. (Courtesy: Jorge Cham)
“Quinnie represents a young generation approaching quantum science with passion, ingenuity, and energy,” says Physics editor Matteo Rini. “We imagine her effortlessly surfing on quantum-mechanical wave functions and playfully engaging with the knottiest quantum ideas, from entanglement to duality.”
Quinnie is set to appear in a series of animated cartoons that the APS will release throughout the year.
This article forms part of Physics World‘s contribution to the 2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), which aims to raise global awareness of quantum physics and its applications.
Stayed tuned to Physics World and our international partners throughout the next 12 months for more coverage of the IYQ.
More than 800 researchers, policy makers and government officials from around the world gathered in Paris this week to attend the official launch of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ). Held at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the two-day event included contributions from four Nobel prize-winning physicists – Alain Aspect, Serge Haroche, Anne l’Huillier and William Phillips.
Opening remarks came from Cephas Adjej Mensah, a research director in the Ghanaian government, which last year submitted the draft resolution to the United Nations for 2025 to be proclaimed as the IYQ. “Let us commit to making quantum science accessible to all,” Mensah declared, reminding delegates that the IYQ is intended to be a global initiative, spreading the benefits of quantum equitably around the world. “We can unleash the power of quantum science and technology to make an equitable and prosperous future for all.”
The keynote address was given by l’Huillier, a quantum physicist at Lund University in Sweden, who shared the 2023 Nobel Prize for Physics with Pierre Agostini and Ferenc Krausz for their work on attosecond pulses. “Quantum mechanics has been extremely successful,” she said, explaining how it was invented 100 years ago by Werner Heisenberg on the island of Helgoland. “It has led to new science and new technology – and it’s just the beginning.”
Let’s go Stephanie Simmons, chief quantum officer at Photonic and co-chair of Canada’s National Quantum Strategy advisory council, speaking at the IYQ launch in Paris. (Courtesy: Matin Durrani)
Some of that promise was outlined by Phillips in his plenary lecture. The first quantum revolution led to lasers, semiconductors and transistors, he reminded participants, but said that the second quantum revolution promises more by exploiting effects such as quantum entanglement and superposition – even if its potential can be hard to grasp. “It’s not that there’s something deeply wrong with quantum mechanics – it’s that there’s something deeply wrong with our ability to understand it,” Phillips explained.
The benefits of quantum technology to society were echoed by leading Chinese quantum physicist Jian-Wei Pan of the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei. “The second quantum revolution will likely provide another human leap in human civilization,” said Pan, who was not at the meeting, in a pre-recorded video statement. “Sustainable funding from government and private sector is essential. Intensive and proactive international co-operation and exchange will undoubtedly accelerate the benefit of quantum information to all of humanity.”
Leaders of the burgeoning quantum tech sector were in Paris too. Addressing the challenges and opportunities of scaling quantum technologies to practical use was a panel made up of Quantinuum chief executive Rajeeb Hazra, QuEra president Takuya Kitawawa, IBM’s quantum-algorithms vice president Katie Pizzoalato, ID Quantique boss Grégoire Ribordy and Microsoft technical fellow Krysta Svore. Also present was Alexander Ling from the National University of Singapore, co-founder of two hi-tech start-ups.
“We cannot imagine what weird and wonderful things quantum mechanics will lead to but you can sure it’ll be marvellous,” said Celia Merzbacher, executive director of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), who chaired the session. All panellists stressed the importance of having a supply of talented quantum scientists and engineers if the industry is to succeed. Hamza also underlined that new products based on “quantum 2.0” technology had to be developed with – and to serve the needs of – users if they are to turn a profit.
The ethical challenges of quantum advancements were also examined in a special panel, as was the need for responsible quantum innovation to avoid a “digital divide” where quantum technology benefits some parts of society but not others. “Quantum science should elevate human dignity and human potential,” said Diederick Croese, a lawyer and director of the Centre for Quantum and Society at Quantum Delta NL in the Netherlands.
Science in action German artist Robin Baumgarten explains the physics behind his Quantum Jungle art installation. (Courtesy: Matin Durrani)
The cultural impact of quantum science and technology was not forgotten in Paris either. Delegates flocked to an art installation created by Berlin-based artist and game developer Robin Baumgarten. Dubbed Quantum Jungle, it attempts to “visualize quantum physics in a playful yet scientifically accurate manner” by using an array of lights controlled by flickable, bendy metal door stops. Baumgarten claims it is a “mathematically accurate model of a quantum object”, with the brightness of each ring being proportional to the chance of an object being there.
This article forms part of Physics World‘s contribution to the 2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ), which aims to raise global awareness of quantum physics and its applications.
Stayed tuned to Physics World and our international partners throughout the next 12 months for more coverage of the IYQ.
This video has no voice over. (Video courtesy: Space Production)
The aim of the International Year of Quantum Science & Technology (IYQ) in 2025 to help raise the public’s awareness of the importance and impact of quantum science and applications on all aspects of life.
Ukraine-born artist Oksana Kondratyeva has certainly taken that message to heart. A London-based designer and producer of architectural glass art, she has recently created an intriguing piece of stained glass inspired by the casing for a quantum computer.
In this video specially made by Kondratyeva for Physics World, you can see her artwork, which was displayed at the 2024 British Glass Biennale, and glimpse the artist in the protective gear she wears while working with the chemicals to make her piece.
In the feature, Kondratyeva describes how her work fuses science and art – and reveals how the collaboration with Rigetti came about. As it happens, it was an article in Physics World during another international year – devoted to glass – that inspired the project.
Metamaterials are artificial 3D structures that can provide all sorts of properties not available with “normal” materials. Pioneered around a quarter of a century ago by physicists such as John Pendry and David Smith, metamaterials can now be found in a growing number of commercial products.
Claire Dancer and Alastair Hibbins, who are joint leads of the UK Metamaterials Network, recently talked to Matin Durrani about the power and potential of these “meta-atom” structures. Dancer is an associate professor and a 125th anniversary fellow at the University of Birmingham, UK, while Hibbins is a professor and director of the Centre of Metamaterials Research and Innovation at the University of Exeter, UK.
Metamaterial mentors University of Birmingham materials scientist Claire Dancer (left) and University of Exeter physicist Alastair Hibbins are joint leads of the UK Metamaterials Network. (Courtesy: Claire Dancer; Jim Wileman)
Let’s start with the basics: what are metamaterials?
Alastair Hibbins (AH): If you want to describe a metamaterial in just one sentence, it’s all about adding functionality through structure. But it’s not a brand new concept. Take the stained-glass windows in cathedrals, which have essentially got plasmonic metal nanoparticles embedded in them. The colour of the glass is dictated by the size and the shape of those particles, which is what a metamaterial is all about. It’s a material where the properties we see or hear or feel depend on the structure of its building blocks.
Physicists have been at the forefront of much recent work on metamaterials, haven’t they?
AH: Yes, the work was reignited just before the turn of the century – in the late 1990s – when the theoretical physicist John Pendry kind of recrystallized this idea (see box “Metamaterials and John Pendry”). Based at Imperial College, London, he and others were was looking at artificial materials, such as metallic meshes, which had properties that were really different from the metal of which they were comprised.
In terms of applications, why are metamaterials so exciting?
Claire Dancer (CD): Materials can do lots of fantastic things, but metamaterials add a new functionality on top. That could be cloaking or it might be mechanically bending and flexing in a way that its constituent materials wouldn’t. You can, for example, have “auxetic metamaterials” with a honeycomb structure that gets wider – not thinner – when stretched. There are also nanoscale photonic metamaterials, which interact with light in unusual ways.
John Pendry: metamaterial pioneer
Deep thinker John Pendry, whose work on negative refraction underpins metamaterials, was awarded the Isaac Newton medal from the Institute of Physics in 2013 and has often been tipped as a potential future Nobel laureate. (Courtesy: Per Henning/NTNU)
Metamaterials are fast becoming commercial reality, but they have their roots in physics –in particular, a landmark paper published in 2000 by theoretical physicist John Pendry at Imperial College, London (Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 3966). In the paper, Pendry described how a metamaterial could be created with a negative index of refraction for microwave radiation, calculating that it could be used to make a “perfect” lens that would focus an image with a resolution not restricted by the wavelength of light (Physics World September 2001 pp47–51).
A metamaterial using copper rings deposited on an electronic circuit board was built the following year by the US physicist David Smith and colleagues at the University of California, San Diego (Science292 77). Pendry later teamed up with Smith and others to use negative-index metamaterials to create a blueprint for an invisibility cloak – the idea being that the metamaterial would guide light around an object to be hidden (Science312 1780). While the mathematics describing how electromagnetic radiation interacts with metamaterials can be complicated, Pendry realized that it could be described elegantly by borrowing ideas from Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
Matin Durrani
What sorts of possible applications can metamaterials have?
CD: There are lots, including some exciting innovations in body armour and protective equipment for sport – imagine customized “auxetic helmets” and protective devices for contact sports like rugby. Metamaterials can also be used in communications, exploiting available frequencies in an efficient, discrete and distinct way. In the optical range, we can create “artificial colour”, which is leading to interesting work on different kinds of glitter and decorative substances. There are also loads of applications in acoustics, where metamaterials can absorb some of the incidental noise that plagues our world.
Have any metamaterials reached the commercial market yet?
AH: Yes. The UK firm Sonnobex won a Business Innovation Award from the Institute of Physics (IOP) in 2018 for its metamaterials that can reduce traffic noise or the annoying “buzz” from electrical power transformers. Another British firm – Metasonnix – won an IOP business award last year for its lightweight soundproofing metamaterial panels. They let air pass through so could be great as window blinds – cutting noise and providing ventilation at the same time.
Sonic boom A spin-out firm from the universities of Bristol and Sussex, Metasonixx is turning metamaterials into commercial reality as noise-abatement products. (Courtesy: Metasonixx Sonoblind Air)
High-end audio manufacturers, such as KEF, are using metamaterials as part of the baffle behind the main loudspeaker. There’s also Metahelios, which was spun out from the University of Glasgow in 2022. It’s making on-chip, multi-wavelength pixelated cameras that are also polarization-sensitive and could have applications in defence and aerospace.
The UK has a big presence in metamaterials but the US is strong too isn’t it?
AH: Perhaps the most famous metamaterial company is Metalenz, which makes flat conformal lenses for mobile phones – enabling amazing optical performance in a compact device. It was spun off in 2021 from the work of Federico Capasso at Harvard University. You can already find its products in Apple and Samsung phones and they’re coming to Google’s devices too.
Other US companies include Kymeta, which makes metamaterial-based antennas, and Lumotive, which is involved in solid-state LIDAR systems for autonomous vehicles and drones. There’s also Echodyne and Pivotal Commware. Those US firms have all received a huge amount of start-up and venture funding, and are doing really well at showing how metamaterials can make money and sell products.
CD: One important aim is to capitalize on all the work done in this country, supporting fundamental discovery science but driving commercialization too. We’ve been going since 2021 and have grown to a community of about 900 members – largely UK academics but with industry and overseas researchers too. We want to provide outsiders with a single source of access to the community and – as we move towards commercialization – develop ways to standardize and regulate metamaterials.
As well as providing an official definition of metamaterials (see box “Metamaterials: the official definition”), we also have a focus on talent and skills, trying to get the next generation into the field and show them it’s a good place to work.
How is the UK Metamaterials Network helping get products onto the market?
CD: The network wants to support the beginning of the commercialization process, namely working with start-ups and getting industry engaged, hopefully with government backing. We’ve also got various special-interest groups, focusing on the commercial potential of acoustic, microwave and photonics materials. And we’ve set up four key challenge areas that cut across different areas of metamaterials research: manufacturing; space and aviation; health; and sustainability.
Metamaterials: the official definition
(Courtesy: iStock/Tomasz Śmigla)
One of the really big things the UK Metamaterials Network has done is to crowdsource the definition of a metamaterial, which has long been a topic of debate. A metamaterial, we have concluded, is “a 3D structure with a response or function due to collective effects of their building blocks (or meta-atoms) that is not possible to achieve conventionally with any individual constituent material”.
A huge amount of work went into this definition. We talked with the community and there was lots of debate about what should be in and what should be out. But I think we’ve emerged with a really nice definition there that’s going to stay in place for many years to come. It might seem a little trivial but it’s one of our great achievements.
Alastair Hibbins
What practical support can you give academics?
CD: The UK Metamaterials Network has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to set up a Metamaterials Network Plus programme. It aims to develop more research in these areas so that metamaterials can contribute to national and global priorities by, for example, being sustainable and ensuring we have the infrastructure for testing and manufacturing metamaterials on a large scale. In particular, we now have “pump prime” funding that we can distribute to academics who want to explore new applications of – and other reserach into – metamaterials.
What are the challenges of commercializing metamaterials?
CD: Commercializing any new scientific idea is difficult and metamaterials are no exception. But one issue with metamaterials is to ensure industry can manufacture them in big volumes. Currently, a lot of metamaterials are made in research labs by 3D printing or by manually sticking and gluing things together, which is fine if you just want to prove some interesting physics. But to make metamaterials in industry, we need techniques that are scalable – and that, in turn, requires resources, funding, infrastructure and a supply of talented, skilled workers. The intellectual property also needs to be carefully managed as much of the underlying work is done in collaborations with universities. If there are too many barriers, companies will give up and not bother trying.
Looking ahead, where do you think metamaterials will be a decade from now?
AH: If we really want to fulfil their potential, we’d ideally fund metamaterials as a national UK programme, just as we do with quantum technology. Defence has been one of the leaders in funding metamaterials because of their use in communications, but we want industry more widely to adopt metamaterials, embedding them in everyday devices. They offer game-changing control and I can see metamaterials in healthcare, such as for artificial limbs or medical imaging. Metamaterials could also provide alternatives in the energy sector, where we want to reduce the use of rare-earth and other minerals. In space and aerospace, they could function as incredibly lightweight, but really strong, blast-resistant materials for satellites and satellite communications, developing more capacity to send information around the world.
How are you working with the IOP to promote metamaterials?
Have you been able to interact with the research community?
CD: We’ve so far run three annual industry events showcasing the applications of metamaterials. The first two were at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, and in Leeds, with last year’s held at the IOP in December. It included a panel discussion about how to overcome barriers to commercialization along with demonstrations of various technologies, and presentations from academics and industrialists about their innovations. We also discussed the pathfinder project with the IOP as we’ll need the community’s help to exploit the power of metamaterials.
What’s the future of the UK Metamaterials Network?
AH: It’s an exciting year ahead working with the IOP and we want to involve as many new sectors as possible. We’re also likely to hit a thousand members of our network: we’ll have a little celebration when we reach that milestone. We’ll be running a 2025 showcase event as well so there’s a lot to look forward to.
This article is an edited version of an interview on the Physics World Weekly podcast of 5 December 2024
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