New funding set to accelerate Canada’s quantum industry capabilities
March 17, 2025
Waterloo research project gets a million dollars to improve quantum measurement tools
A research project led by Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) faculty Dr. David Cory, professor in the Department of Chemistry, has received $1 million to advance quantum metrological standards.
The project is jointly funded through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Alliance Quantum grants and the National Research Council of Canada, supporting the implementation of the National Quantum Strategy (NQS). The strategy aims to address important challenges in quantum science, while supporting the development of quantum technologies including algorithms and encryption, communications, computing, materials and sensing.
Cory is working with IQC research associate Dr. George Nichols, IQC faculty Dr. Guo-Xing Miao, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dr. Labanya Ghosh, postdoctoral fellow, and graduate student Yawen Peng at the University of Waterloo.
The project aims to develop quantum standards and measurement tools with the same performance as current ones but with much lower experimental overheads. Low temperatures and other requirements currently limit the tools’ use in national labs and specialist research centres.
“Quantum metrological standards derive their precision from universal constants, giving them robustness and fidelity unachievable by classical devices. We are developing quantum voltage, mass and temperature measurement tools using advanced fabrication techniques and novel superconducting materials that operate at higher temperatures than existing quantum devices,” says Cory, Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate and the principal investigator for the Canada First Research Excellence Fund in Transformative Quantum Technologies (TQT). “By making quantum standards more widely accessible, this project will enable the ultra-precise measurements on which new quantum technologies rely, accelerating Canada’s growing quantum industry.”
Read the full story on the University of Waterloo News website.