India on Friday joined over 65 nations in celebrating the 2nd World Quantum Day.
Since 2021, April 14 has been designated as the World Quantum Day globally to mark the research efforts using quantum technologies. April 14 was selected by the World Quantum Network aimed at promoting the public understanding of Quantum Science and Technology globally. April 14 is significant as it is a reference to 4.14, the rounded first digits of Planck’s constant - 4.135667696×10-15 eV/Hz, a product of energy and time that is the fundamental constant governing quantum physics.
This network constitutes scientist-representatives from over 65 countries. Representing India are Professor Urbasi Sinha from the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru, and Professor Arun K. Pati, Head of Centre for Quantum Science and Technology, International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIITH).
“It is lovely to have a day in the year dedicated to celebrate all things quantum. RRI has been at the forefront of quantum technology research in the country. I am excited at the future prospects in this field for Indian researchers,” said Prof. Urbasi Sinha, Group Head, Quantum Information and Computing (QuIC) lab at RRI.
Sharing his views on the quantum technologies, Professor Arun K. Pati, Head of Centre for Quantum Science and Technology, International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIITH) said, “Quantum Mechanics rules all the happenings in the universe. More so, quantum mechanics has given rise to revolutionary fields of Quantum Computing, Quantum Communication and Quantum Technology – all of which will have lasting contribution to society at large.”
This year’s World Quantum Day commemorated the Nobel Prize in Physics (2022) which was awarded to the trio Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger for their efforts and experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science.
In India, online and physical events were organised to mark this day. Around the world 350 events were planned to observe this day, the WQN website said.
About IIIT Hyderabad: The International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH) is an autonomous research university founded in 1998 that focuses on the core areas of Information Technology, such as Computer Science, Electronics and Communications, and their applications in other domains through inter-disciplinary research that has a greater social impact. Some of its research domains include Visual Information Technologies, Human Language Technologies, Data Engineering, VLSI and Embedded Systems, Computer Architecture, Wireless Communications, Algorithms and Information Security, Robotics, Building Science, Earthquake Engineering, Computational Natural Sciences and Bioinformatics, Education Technologies, Power Systems, Quantum Computing and Quantum Information, IT in Agriculture and e-Governance.
Website: www.iiit.ac.in
About Raman Research Institute: Raman Research Institute (RRI) is a premier research Institution in India, pursuing cutting-edge fundamental research in select frontier areas of Physics under contemporary research themes. The Institute was founded by Indian Science Nobel Laureate Sir C V Raman in 1948. Currently RRI’s thrust research areas cover Astronomy and Astrophysics, Light and Matter Physics, Soft Condensed Matter and Theoretical Physics.