To celebrate 100 years of quantum mechanics and increase public awareness of the importance of quantum science and its applications, the United Nations (U.N.) proclaimed 2025 as the “International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.”
We’re fully on board! It’s truly astounding how much quantum innovation is taking place right now—photonics plays an enormous role—and we’re covering as much of it as we can.
In this issue of Quantum Innovators, our cover story features the insanely cool quantum memory drum work by Professor Albert Schliesser’s group at the University of Copenhagen’s Niels Bohr Institute (NBI) in Denmark. Mads Bjerregaard Kristensen, a postdoc who worked on the project, shares their work—and the cover image—with us.
I’m thrilled to have Yole Group’s Eric Mounier share highlights of their recent Quantum Technologies report and why now is the time to invest in quantum technologies. And Daniel Oi, of the University of Strathclyde and U.K. Quantum Communications Hub, walks us through quantum milestones in space and describes what the future of space-based quantum comms might look like.
We’ve got a bit of everything in here for you: Quantum dots on semiconductors, lasers making materials magnetic, fiber-optic cable’s role in quantum networks, femtosecond lasers creating optic qubits in silicon, a couple of quantum network demos, a tool to determine characteristics of light-based quantum states, and the world’s first photonic topological quantum insulator. And an introduction to one of the coolest quantum-inspired startups: LightSolver.
A big thank-you to everyone who contributed to this issue or talked to us about their amazing quantum work!
