Quantum information technologies QIT have two separate but entangled layers – material and ideological. Material layer embraces algorithms, physical devices and systems. Cognitive layer is related to the boundaries and structure of our knowledge, including the magic of nonlocal interactions and subtleties of contextuality. The paradox is that QIT should use quantum magic as a resource to turn into functional utility. The International Year of Quantum Science and Technology is celebrated in Europe, Poland and elsewhere. Opening conference at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris was attended by representatives of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and some quantum science groups. Several scientific conferences organized in Poland were announced to the IYQ25 calendar, including: May Symposia of Information and Quantum Horizons in Gdańsk, August Max Born Optical Symposium in Wrocław, September Congress of the Polish Physicists in Katowice. Quantum research projects are realized in Poland, QuantERA, tasks included in the European Quantum Flagship EQF, construction of quantum equipment by university consortia MIKOK, quantum networks and others.
Quantum information technologies QIT have two separate but entangled layers – material and ideological. Material layer embraces algorithms, physical devices and systems. Cognitive layer is related to the boundaries and structure of our knowledge, including the magic of nonlocal interactions and subtleties of contextuality. The paradox is that QIT should use quantum magic as a resource to turn into functional utility. The International Year of Quantum Science and Technology is celebrated in Europe, Poland and elsewhere. Opening conference at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris was attended by representatives of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and some quantum science groups. Several scientific conferences organized in Poland were announced to the IYQ25 calendar, including: May Symposia of Information and Quantum Horizons in Gdańsk, August Max Born Optical Symposium in Wrocław, September Congress of the Polish Physicists in Katowice. Quantum research projects are realized in Poland, QuantERA, tasks included in the European Quantum Flagship EQF, construction of quantum equipment by university consortia MIKOK, quantum networks and others.
Europe has to face strong competitive challenges in the field of QIT from other regions of the world. The tools for the effective implementation of the challenges related to the start, we hope, of building a quantum civilization are both common and individual in particular European countries. Joint projects in the field of QIT, usually narrowly focused, are announced by large European Agencies and are related to their activities. Large-scale collaborative projects are of course the domain of the EC. National projects depend heavily on the capabilities of individual countries and vary greatly in size. The most technologically advanced European countries invest hundreds of millions of Euros in national QIT projects annually. The largest European FET class project currently being implemented is the Quantum Flagship. Although the EQF is basically just one of the elements of a large and complicated European scene of development of quantum technologies, it becomes the most important element and, in a sense, a dominant one, also supported from the political level. There are complex connections and feedbacks between the elements of this quantum scene. National projects try to link to the EQF. Here we are interested in such connections and their impact on the effectiveness of QIT development in Europe, and especially in Poland.
QIT–Quantum Information Technologies promises are very serious, greatly exceeding only technical and market levels. Development of QIT in Europe, treated as building a new infrastructural civilization level, requires a broader view of coordination, funding and priority-setting policy. Simple measures used in the case of the development of new technologies, but not creating a significant ecosystem, are insufficient in this case. Quantum technologies are poised to create a new information layer of knowledge-based society. In this essay, the author subjectively addresses some of the issues such as: what we already know and what we don't know, and what efforts are being made in Europe. Polish version of this paper was published in Przegl.Telekom.2.23.
Much of our present understanding of the microscopic world is based on quantum mechanics. The field owes much of its existence to the venerable science of optics, since the fundamental ideas on the nature of the interaction between light and matter lie at the roots of its origin. We have now reached one century of quantum mechanics. In contrast, the splendid blossoming of quantum optics began only after the comparatively recent invention of the laser. Since then, it has become an exciting and always expanding area at the cutting-edge of research, in part because theory and experiment are more closely connected in this field than any other. Moreover, the technological distance between fundamental studies and practical applications has always been very short in quantum optics. As a result, modern engineering is increasingly based on quantum rather than classical physics; we are facing a transition similar to the one society confronted 200 years ago, at the start of the Industrial Revolution. In parallel with this, the physics community is witnessing the recent and vigorous emergence of quantum information. It aims at exploring the physical foundations of information and at developing efficient methods for processing quantum information. The questions driving this field reveal a profound change in attitude towards fundamental aspects of quantum theory. The photon turns out to be a tool extremely well suited to exploring theoretical quantum information schemes and their experimental implementations. Mirroring this continued progress has been the growth and development of the series of annual Central European Workshops on Quantum Optics (CEWQO). The series started at the beginning of the 1990s, as rather small meetings of physicists from a few countries in central-eastern Europe. In two decades, the workshops have transformed into important events that reach well beyond the original rather restricted geographical limits. The history of CEWQOs can be found in the preface to the proceedings of the 15th CEWQO ( Physica Scripta 2009 T135 011005 ). The 18th edition of CEWQO (CEWQO11) was held in Madrid in 2011. There were about 250 participants, from practically every European country. Many colleagues from other continents also joined the event, including well-established researchers in the field. This is a clear demonstration that these meetings provide an excellent chance to hear about the latest results and new directions of research. The organization of CEWQO11 was carried out by a committee consisting of members active in this topic in Madrid. From Universidad Complutense, Alberto Galindo and Luis L Sánchez-Soto; from Universidad Autónoma, Jose Calleja and Carlos Tejedor; from Universidad Politécnica, Enrique Calleja; from Universidad Carlos III, Alberto Ibort; and from the National Research Council (CSIC), Juan León and Juan J García-Ripoll. Special thanks go to the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation, Universidad Complutense and the Quitemad Consortium for financial support. The proceedings of the 16th CEWQO held at the University of Turku, Finland and the 17th CEWQO held at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK are also available ( Physica Scripta 2010 T140 and Physica Scripta 2011 T143 ). The present Topical Issue is a collection of papers presented in Madrid; they represent an illustrative sample of the major achievements and trends in this area. In turn, they reflect the wide range of interests in this rapidly evolving field. Some collaborators from different scientific centres who could not, due to different reasons, come to Madrid, but participated in previous CEWQOs and plan to participate in future CEWQOs, also contributed to this issue. The papers are arranged alphabetically by the name of the first author. Special thanks goes to Roger Wäppling, the Managing Editor of Physica Scripta , and Graeme Watt, the Publisher, for the opportunity to publish CEWQO11. From a Physica Scripta Editorial Board meeting it was decided that Physica Scripta could offer a poster prize (200 euros + certificate) for young scientists (less than 30 years old) at the annual CEWQO conference. A panel of experts was formed to judge the posters which included Apostol Vourdas, University of Bradford, UK (Chairman), Alberto Ibort, University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain, Andrei Klimov, University of Guadalajara, Mexico, Margarita A Man'ko, P N Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow, Russia and Antonino Messina, University of Palermo, Italy. The poster ''How can we check the uncertainty relation?'' by Vladimir Chernega, PhD student of the P N Lebedev Physical Institute, won the prize. The 19th Central European Workshop on Quantum Optics will be held in Sinaia, Romania on 2–6 July 2012. It will be chaired by Professor Aurelian Isar from the Horia Hulubei National Institute for Research and Development in Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Bucharest.
Given the European and global context, the international scientific and technological competition, there are challenges that our society, where the exchange of information is omnipresent, must meet. These are the issues regarding quantum technologies. The countries which master them will have an undeniable strategic advantage in the fields of molecular medicine, new materials, carbon dioxide storage, etc. States, industrial giants, private and academic research consortia are investing massively in fundamental research or breakthrough innovation projects in the communication, computing, simulation, cryptography, metrology and other sectors. quantum sensors. This non-exhaustive article comments on economic and societal issues, describes the state of research, etc. It presents some reminders of quantum mechanics, necessary elements of technology and presents some current and future applications. It offers elements of foresight. Images or figures are the property of their authors cited as the source. For more information, bibliographical references and links to the websites of organizations and institutions are provided.
The United Nations General Assembly has officially designated 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ). This global initiative, supported by UNESCO and co-sponsored by several countries, marks the centenary of quantum sciences, which encompass quantum mechanics, quantum chemistry, and related fields. These disciplines serve as the foundation for fundamental research across the natural sciences. Quantum mechanics provides the theoretical framework for understanding matter and energy at the microscopic scale. While public celebrations of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology often showcase quantum technologies to engage a broader audience, it is crucial to remember that the emergence of quantum theory primarily represented a ground-breaking shift in the basic sciences. This article explores the complex relationship between quantum mechanics and concepts of traditional chemistry, particularly concerning the microscopic world of atoms and molecules. It highlights how quantum mechanics, a holistic and nonlocal theory, features concepts such as entanglement and the indistinguishability of components that challenge classical chemical notions of distinct interatomic interactions and well-defined molecular structures. While quantum mechanics excels at determining the overall stability and dynamics of the system, the article explains that quantum chemistry relies on the classical Born-Oppenheimer approximation to maintain the view of local interactions and identifiable atoms within a molecule. Then, the article discusses the historical development and limitations of transition state theory in explaining chemical reactions, highlighting chemistry’s specific focus on bond breaking and bond making as a fundamental explanatory principle.
The International Conference on Quantum Information Processing and Communication (QIPC) 2013 was organized within the QUIE2T Coordination Action (Quantum Information and Entanglement Enabled Technologies), an FP7 Coordination Action to support QIPC in Europe. It covered a broad range of topics on quantum information and quantum communication, physical realizations of quantum systems for information technologies and topical subjects such as quantum enhanced measurements, foundations of quantum information, quantum simulations and many-body systems.