Dr. hab. Magdalena Stobińska-Moretto from the University of Warsaw will head a new center of excellence dedicated to the development of quantum technologies. The researcher has received PLN 30 million for this purpose from the Foundation for Polish Science.
The new research unit – the Center for Hybrid Quantum-Classical Information Technologies (QLAB) – will be established at the University of Warsaw. It will be another of the several International Research Agendas created in recent years. Seven projects were evaluated in the competition, of which only one received funding – PLN 30 million.
“Quantum technologies are one of the most breakthrough and promising fields of modern science, which may change the face of the digital world in the coming years. We are glad that the Foundation for Polish Science, thanks to funds from the European Funds, can support solutions that drive development and can influence the shape of technological reality,” emphasizes Prof. Krzysztof Pyrć, President of the FNP Board.
Within the new unit, four groups will work on practical solutions for communication, computation, and metrology. Their goal will be to create secure quantum networks, energy-efficient artificial intelligence algorithms, and ultrasensitive measurement and imaging methods. The research aims to combine theory with prototypes ready for implementation in industry (telecommunications, ICT sector, medicine, defense, and space technology). The results of the work will include industrial demonstrators, new technologies, and patents, providing a basis for technology transfer.
“Our ambition is for the new center to bridge the gap between science and industry and become a platform integrating research and applications, as well as a pillar of the European quantum strategy. We want to contribute to accelerating the development of scalable quantum technologies in Europe,” says Dr. hab. Magdalena Stobińska-Moretto, director of the new center.
Her scientific interests concern quantum technologies, quantum optics, quantum information, and condensed matter, with particular emphasis on quantum nano-optics, graphene, and other two-dimensional materials.
“I have always believed that you have to have your own path, your own idea, and you should not succumb to fads, especially in science. It may be difficult at the beginning, but there comes a moment when truly original concepts are born,” she argued some time ago in the pages of “Forum Akademickie”.
Her interest in physics was sparked by Stephen Hawking’s book A Brief History of Time. Black holes, red dwarfs, neutron stars – it captured the imagination. From a scientific point of view, this area is as attractive as it is ungrateful – experimental data, which after all mark breakthrough moments in science, is extremely difficult to obtain in it. Therefore, when she attended a lecture on quantum optics by Prof. Krzysztof Wódkiewicz, it turned out that the theory of quantum mechanics is just as interesting, and perhaps even more interesting, than the theory of gravity. But traps lurk here too.
“A major challenge in the field of quantum technologies is combining theoretical proposals, meaning, for example, a specific protocol, with the capabilities of the equipment available in laboratories. It is known that hardware, unlike our imagination, is limited, and the trick is to connect these two areas,” she explained in an article in FA.
She graduated from the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw. In 2008, she received the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship at the Max Planck Research Group in Erlangen (Germany), and then, from 2008 to 2012, she was employed at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. From January to April 2017, she was a visiting professor at the Clarendon Laboratory at the University of Oxford. Subsequently, she founded the Quantum Information Technologies Research Group (QCAT), which deals with the creation of new protocols for hybrid technologies, such as quantum-enhanced communication and quantum-enhanced computation. She coordinated the international AppQInfo program under the MSCA-ITN (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks).
The International Research Agendas measure implemented by the Foundation for Polish Science allows for the launch or development of specialized, world-leading research teams and organizations in Poland, where achieving scientific excellence and international research competitiveness will be possible. In the calls for proposals to date, the FNP has awarded funds to 19 projects (including four that gained support from the Teaming for Excellence competition) for a total amount of over PLN 580 million.
Mariusz Karwowski, source: FNP