Physicists are building machines that can create and control "designer" quantum states—exotic arrangements of atoms and molecules that exist in multiple configurations at once. This matters because quantum coherence—the ability of particles to remain in these superposed, entangled states—underpins everything from quantum computers to our understanding of why certain materials become superconductors. Currently, researchers can manipulate simple quantum systems like single atoms or ions, but they cannot yet build the large-scale, complex quantum states needed to solve outstanding problems in condensed matter physics. The gap is between controlling a few particles and controlling many. This project is fundamental science. It will not produce a commercial device next year. Instead, it aims to build the UK’s capacity to do this research by hiring new faculty, setting up state-of-the-art laboratories, and training graduate students and postdocs. If successful, it could lead to new physics—phenomena no one has yet imagined—and eventually to new technologies, such as quantum sensors or materials with tailored electronic properties. Past fundamental work on quantum coherence, for example, led directly to the lasers and transistors that underpin modern electronics.
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The defining character of quantum mechanics is coherence / the superposition of correlated states of many particles. Quantum correlated and entangled states lie at the heart of several major areas of physics, especially quantum optics, atomic physics and quantum condensed matter. The ability to control precisely a broad range of systems from ultracold atoms in optical lattices to internal states of molecules to semiconductor nanostructures has led to important breakthroughs in the understanding and potential applications of entanglement. Because the same principles underlie the rich but sometimes impenetrable physics of quantum matter, these advances open a window on challenging problems in materials. The fortunate fertility already evident in condensed matter materials suggests strongly that major benefits will accrue from exerting full quantum control of complex systems. Within this proposal we shall tackle this demanding new challenge. The underlying concepts and technologies of coherent control and manipulation in atomic, molecular and optical physics are now sufficiently established that it is possible to consider the synthesis of designer quantum states of atoms and molecules that can address a number of outstanding problems in condensed matter and optical physics. Furthermore, the ability to build large-scale quantum coherent systems represents such a new capability that we can anticipate new physics, as yet unimagined, as well as new technologies, to emerge. The method of approach will be to increase UK research capacity by the appointment of new faculty and the establishment of state of the art research laboratories and facilities, and the nurturing of collaborative research programs across several institutions. This will be complemented by implementing new training programs at the graduate and postdoctoral researcher level that will be broadly available to the UK community.
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