Quantum physicists share ideas

Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 16

While addressing the country’s eminent scientists at fourth national workshop on quantum physics, Prof Arvind said the possibilities of making a quantum computer soon are bright. The Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, Prof Arvind is the National Convener for Theme-1 of this mega Rs 300 crore programme.

The project, “Quantum Enabled Science and Technology”, related to the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, is known as ‘QUEST’. This 4th national workshop under Theme-1 of QUEST in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Mohali, started here today. It is a two-day event.

Renowned scientist from the IISC- Bangalore, Prof N Mukunda, chaired the inaugural session of the workshop. Comparing the current research in this field with the early days, Prof Mukunda said now, the quality of work had improved and it was a good sign for research.

Sharing detailed information about this workshop, Prof Arvind said “Quantum Enabled Science and Technology” was an important and large-scale programme of the Government of India, which includes 51 research projects.

These projects are categorised into four themes. Theme-1 includes 24 different research projects based on “Quantum Information Technologies with Photonic Devices”.

He said the Theme-1 projects are designed to carry out research on the quantum communication. In the new era, there is a possibility that quantum computers are coming soon.

These quantum computers are completely new type of computers, which will be able to do many things that ordinary computers cannot do, but work is in process to find ways to make communication through these computers more secure.

“As we do any secret communication like sending password to the bank or a secret communication to meet military requirements, there is always a challenge to keep it secure. Therefore, it is being emphasised that such communication should also be done with quantum methods in the coming days, which cannot be broken as compared to the conventional technology. The new emerging field involves quantum secure communication and quantum information science. For the last 20-25 years, this work has been started on a large scale all over the world,” said Prof Arvind.

During the workshop, the quantum physicists are exploring different aspects of their proposed work and sharing mutual ideas. In the opening session, Prof Subhash Chaturvedi of IISER-Bhopal, Prof Bijoy Krishna Das from IIT-Madras, Dr RP Aloysius from CSIRNPL-Delhi, Dr V Natarajan from Chennai and Prof Mandeep Singh from IISER-Mohali presented their views.

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