Imperial’s Quest to Create New Quantum Technologies – Prof Haynes
public in-person lecture
Friends heard Professor Haynes explain the breadth of research into applications of Quantum Mechanics being undertaken within Imperial's Quest programme; and discovered how QM is used in precision navigation (yes you read this correctly) without the need for satellites.
Peter D Haynes FREng - Professor of Theory & Simulation of Materials Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience), Imperial College London
Quantum science has already revolutionised the world once by enabling digital technologies. Since this first revolution, our understanding of quantum nature has evolved, and we are now entering a new age of opportunity for engineering to translate the quantum science of superposition and entanglement into transformative technologies for timing, sensing, navigation, imaging, communications and computing. These will impact on major industries across energy, construction, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, defence, finance, security and information technology.
This talk provided both an overview of the research on quantum technologies within Imperial’s Centre for Quantum Engineering, Science and Technology, followed by a deep dive into the development of a quantum navigator that has been tested in the field including on the London Underground and a Royal Navy research vessel.
Professor Haynes is the Vice-Provost (Education and Student Experience) at Imperial College London and Professor of Theory and Simulation of Materials, a post he holds jointly between the departments of Materials and Physics and associated with the Thomas Young Centre. His research interests have focussed on the development of new methods for performing first-principles quantum-mechanical simulations and their application to materials science, nanotechnology and biological systems. He is an author of the ONETEP software and was awarded the Maxwell Medal and Prize for Computational Physics by the Institute of Physics in 2010. Peter's interests have more recently expanded to include methods for simulating molecules and materials on emerging quantum computers, in collaboration with the Imperial Centre for Quantum Engineering, Science and Technology. He was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2021.
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