Todas la naciones y en particular las empresas de tecnolog\u00eda, deben mirar al futuro. Pero justo cuando se comienza a comprender el potencial real de la revoluci\u00f3n digital, llega una nueva: La revoluci\u00f3n impulsada por la F\u00edsica Cu\u00e1ntica, que sin lugar a dudas ser\u00e1 altamente disruptiva. Estas tecnolog\u00edas ofrecer\u00e1n un sinf\u00edn de oportunidades en las industrias automotriz, de defensa, en la salud y las ciencias ambientales, porque pr\u00e1cticamente no hay l\u00edmite para las ideas y la inventiva que van a desatar. Como ejemplo, se podr\u00eda hacer los instrumentos de medici\u00f3n mil veces m\u00e1s precisos, en los sistemas de comunicaciones el cifrado cu\u00e1ntico permitir\u00e1 transmitir mensajes con total seguridad, y tambi\u00e9n se podr\u00edan reducir los tama\u00f1os actuales de las antenas de radio. Si bien sus resultados parecen muy lejanos, en laboratorios europeos ya se est\u00e1n experimentando nuevas aplicaciones.<\/p>\n
All companies need to look ahead, especially tech companies in the age of relentless innovation. So just as we were starting to understand the real potential of the digital revolution, along comes the next one. And without a doubt, that next revolution will be driven by quantum physics. It’s likely to be highly disruptive, taking us closer to the wizardry of Harry Potter than anything we’ve seen so far.<\/p>\n
Already today, it appears that harnessing the quantum properties of matter could boost the performance of conventional measurement instruments by a factor of at least 10 to 100 \u2014 even 1,000 in some cases. These technologies would offer endless opportunities in the automotive and defence industries, for example, but also in healthcare and environmental science, because there is virtually no limit to the ideas and inventiveness they would unleash.<\/p>\n
Europe tends to grumble, often with little justification, that there is no European equivalent of the American and Chinese tech giants. But the new quantum revolution could be a real opportunity to position ourselves on the world stage. The quality of European research and researchers is beyond dispute, and we need to invest heavily at European level to support the emergence of a global centre of excellence in the field of quantum sensors.<\/p>\n
To better understand what is at stake, let me offer a humble explanation of what quantum physics is, notwithstanding the words of Richard Feynman, one of the discipline’s top specialists, who said in 1964 that nobody really understands the science.<\/p>\n
Quantum physics emerged in the early 20th century as the study of fundamental particles like atoms, neutrons, photons, quarks and the like. It was further developed in the 1930s, leading to revolutionary inventions including laser technology and, in 1947, the transistor.<\/p>\n
The world as we know it would not exist without that first quantum revolution. Applications can still be found everywhere in our day-to-day lives \u2014 the laser beams in your BluRay players and barcode readers, the lasers used in medical procedures, the ultra-precise atomic clocks behind your car’s satnav system, and a vast array of other microelectronic devices. But that’s just a taste of what’s to come. Another revolution is already taking shape.<\/p>\n
“The second quantum revolution starts now”<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The second quantum revolution starting now will involve manipulating these fundamental particles, individually or a few at a time, and using certain phenomena to produce effects that are, to say the least, counterintuitive.<\/p>\n
Why is it so hard to describe the quantum universe that our researchers find so inspiring? Simply because no human being has ever been directly confronted by these phenomena. Nobody has realised in practical terms, for example, that a particle can exist in two states at the same time, each with a certain probability, like a lottery ticket before the draw, which is both a winner and a loser. Nor has anybody had to deal with the fact that two distant particles can be part not of similar objects, but of the very same object. In the world of quantum physics, fundamental particles can walk through walls. Welcome to Hogwarts!<\/p>\n
Quantum physics challenges our certainties and undermines our binary logic. In a traditional computing context, for example, we’ve grown accustomed to coding information into a succession of 0s and 1s (bits). But in a quantum world, the “qubit” can be 0 and 1 at the same time!<\/p>\n
This quest for the inner secrets of matter and an uncharted universe is truly fascinating. It challenges both our understanding and our imagination, and that’s exactly why researchers all over the world find it so inspiring. Today they are starting to manipulate these qubits, or quantum bits, to make quantum devices that perform actual functions. And the holy grail for many is quantum computing, which would literally offer unimaginable power and possibilities. When will we see the first quantum computers? In 10 years? 30 years? Never? The task is complex and opinions are divided.<\/p>\n
As far as Thales is concerned, a number of applications could become a reality in the more foreseeable future \u2014 within five years in the case of quantum sensors, currently the most mature area of quantum research.<\/p>\n
This is not science fiction. For example, quantum physics could reduce the size of RF antennas from several square metres to a few square centimetres, or improve the accuracy of inertial navigation systems[1]<\/a> by a factor of at least 10 to 100. And gaining several orders of magnitude on a component or a subsystem means you can not only do things better \u2014 you can do things that are radically new.<\/p>\n
Early computers, you will remember, took up entire rooms. Today your smartphone has more computing power and is a good deal smaller, opening the floodgates to new uses and applications. The same kind of revolution will occur when we can sense phenomena such as gravitational pull, motion and electromagnetic radiation with tiny components that are much more capable than the ones we have today.<\/p>\n
“Applications in transport, energy, security, medicine, mapping or subsurface observation”<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We can already imagine applications in transport, energy, security, medicine, mapping or subsurface observation.<\/p>\n
In the air transport sector, for example, an aircraft taking off from Paris can land in New York without a GPS signal with a precision of within a few kilometres. \u00a0With advances in research into quantum sensors, the same plane could land on the right runway without using GPS at all.<\/p>\n
In communication systems, quantum encryption will make it possible to transmit messages in complete security. With this technique, information travels as pulses of light along an optical fibre like soap bubbles. Intercepting the signal bursts the bubbles, making the system completely trustworthy.<\/p>\n
The superior precision of quantum sensors will also play a crucial role in medicine, making it possible to find tumours that are impossible to detect today. And geologists could discover previously unknown natural resources beneath the Earth’s surface.<\/p>\n
These types of components and applications are not a figment of the imagination \u2014 they’re already being tested in Thales’s laboratories and at one of Europe’s biggest quantum physics research facilities, at Paris-Saclay, where Thales is also involved. It’s ground-breaking projects like this that have made Thales the top-ranked European company in the physical sciences in the Nature Index 2019 Annual Tables, published by Nature<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> the international journal of science. Real-life applications could emerge very soon, probably in the next five years.<\/p>\n
This quantum revolution has begun. Thales has played a role in all the major technological revolutions \u2014 electricity, electronics, computing, digital \u2014 and we’ll be front and centre in this one too. Because making the impossible possible is what we do every day, and exploring the unexplored is what inspires us most. And because we know that technology is what propels the world to the next level.<\/p>\n