Source: Radio New Zealand
Advanced Technology Institute board member Professor Cather Simpson. (File photo) supplied
The government is spending $1.35 million to see how New Zealand’s expertise in quantum and photonic research can be used to create jobs, attract investment and grow a high-tech, high-value economy.
“It’s huge for New Zealand’s economy and for New Zealand’s future and productivity,” Advanced Technology Institute board member Professor Cather Simpson said, who is also a professor of physics and chemical sciences at Auckland University.
“These things (quantum technology and photonics) are on the verge of allowing us to do everything from diagnose cancer earlier and better, to even being able to predict earthquakes two weeks ahead of time, instead of 30 minutes to an hour.
“And that all comes from being able to measure things like time more precisely — to be able to link things together.”
The funding would be used over the next six months by recently established Institute for Advanced Technology to identify the best way to use New Zealand’s expertise to develop products for the second generation of quantum mechanics, known as Quantum 2.0.
Quantum 2.0
Quantum mechanics has been around for more than a hundred years and used to develop such things as transistors, the Internet, cellular phones and other photonic devices like lasers and sensors.
“And so in the lingo, that’s all called Quantum 1.0. Quantum 2.0 is what we’re on the verge of right now,” she said, adding New Zealand had a lot of theoretical and experimental expertise in the Quantum 2.0 space,” Simpson said.
“And that’s the whole purpose of this public research organisation.
“Quantum is one of the areas that we think has a tonne of potential, because we have this research strength.”
She said the research will look at what it would take to accelerate and apply that expertise.
“I should emphasise that we don’t just have expertise in that laser space. We have expertise in the kinds of cold, single atom types of research that are used to make these next generation clocks and measurements of time and behaviour that will lead us to say better earthquake detection.
“We are starting to see our first patents emerge from this space. And I think we’re right on the cusp of moving into the world economy here.
“And that all comes from being able to measure things like time more precisely. To be able to link things together.”
Quantum 2.0 was expected to see advances in computing, communications and sensing, and offered opportunities to solve complex problems and create secure information systems, advanced materials and ultra-precise measurement tools.
For example, in Australia, quantum gravimeters were recently used to detect subtle variations in the Earth’s gravitational field, leading to mineral discoveries valued at nearly $7 billion (A$6b).
Quantum sensors also made medical imaging much more precise to allow for more accurate surgery and help with the early detection of diseases, such as Alzheimer’s.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
