Within the last two decades, quantum Technologies (QT) have made tremendous progress, moving from NobelPrize award-winning experiments on quantum physics into a cross-disciplinary field of applied research. These are now turned into an application-driven strategic research agenda.
The following article, written by European authors, many of who have carried the activities in virtual institutes and facilities is a snapshot of that process. It discusses the recent technology advancements in the area of Quantum communication, Quantum computation, Quantum simulation, Quantum metrology, sensing, and imaging, Quantum control, and Quantum software and theory. Each section, after a short introduction to the domain, gives an overview on what is, in the authors’ opinion, its status and main challenges and then describes the advances in science and technology foreseen by the authors for the next ten years and beyond.
Each section, after a short introduction to the domain, gives an overview on what is, in the authors’ opinion, its status and main challenges and then describes the advances in science and technology foreseen by the authors for the next ten years and beyond.
Quantum communication involves the generation and use of quantum states and resources for communication protocols, whose main applications are in provably secure communication, long-term secure storage, cloud computing, and other cryptography-related tasks, as well as a secure ‘quantum web’ distributing quantum resources.
Quantum Computation based on the unitary evolution of a modest number of robust logical qubits (N > 100) operating on a computational state space with 2^N basis states would outperform classical computers for a number of well-identified tasks.
Interacting quantum systems could be efficiently simulated employing other precisely controllable quantum systems, even in many instances in which such a simulation task is expected to be inefficient for standard classical computers, using quantum simulation.
In Quantum measurement, the central concept of a sensor is that a probe interacts with an appropriate system, the properties of which are of interest, which changes of state of the probe. Measurements of the probe reveal the parameters that characterize the system. In quantum-enhanced sensors, the probe is generally prepared in a particular nonclassical state.
The general goal of quantum control is to actively manipulate dynamical processes of quantum systems, typically by means of external electromagnetic fields or forces.
Since the development of the first quantum algorithms and protocols there has also been steady and impressive progress on the hardware side, delivering quantum systems with a small number(<20) of qubits and quantum networks ranging over several hundreds of kilometres. With this progress, the need for quantum software and theory to exploit these novel Quantum Technology.
