The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is setting up a Quantum Metrology Institute (QMI) at its Teddington site. The Institute – part of the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme – will cover the NPL's quantum science and metrology research and provide the expertise and facilities needed for academia and industry to test, validate and commercialise new quantum research and technologies.
Professor Sir Peter Knight, who will chair the QMI, said: "In the UK, we have had incredible academic strength in quantum research, both at the universities and places like the NPL. The new initiative, driven by Government's £270million investment, will pull all this out of the laboratories and into practical realisations in the real world. NPL is pivotal to this: its new QMI will provide a critical test bed that accelerates the process of commercialising research."
Work has begun on refurbishing and extending laboratories within NPL for use in quantum technologies. The new facility will include a range of capital investments funded from the NPL's £4m capital budget for quantum technologies. The QMI is expected to open formally towards the end of 2015.
Author
Graham Pitcher
Source: www.newelectronics.co.uk