Quantum technology: more security and improved imaging
European network QuantERA: 12 transnational projects on quantum technologies receive more than 14 million francs. Two involve researchers in Switzerland who are funded by the SNSF.
Launched in early 2019, the last call for proposals for QuantERA focused on quantum technologies, including quantum communication and simulation, quantum computing, and quantum metrology and imaging. 85 proposals were submitted from different European countries (16 from Switzerland or with a Swiss partner), with the success rate coming to lie at 14.1% (12.5% for the Swiss projects). Among the 12 selected projects, 11 have a partner from a European Union enlargement country.
Shaping the technology of tomorrow
With the eDICT project, researchers Renato Renner and Joseph Renes from ETH Zurich intend to make quantum communications safer thanks to quantum cryptography protocols which are device-independent. Collaborative efforts of partners from Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Switzerland are thus invested in improving security and robustness from the visionary perspective of the quantum Internet.
The Qu3D project, on which researchers from Greece, Italy, the Czech Republic and Switzerland are working, tackles issues with high transformational potential in three-dimensional quantum imaging. Based on newly developed 3D imaging systems which exploit quantum entanglement and photon number correlations, Claudio Bruschini and Edoardo Charbon (EPFL) aim to radically improve imaging performance compared to existing technologies. The results of Qu3D could have a considerable impact on a multitude of applications both in manufacturing and in biomedical imaging.
Transnational research
QuantERA is a consortium consisting of 31 funding agencies from 26 countries in Europe and beyond. It was established in 2016 to support excellent multidisciplinary research in the area of quantum technologies that might eventually lead to technological breakthroughs. The QuantERA consortium is itself funded by the European Union under the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme.