George, Luke, and Animesh have recently had a paper published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b00829) in collaboration with Patrick Rowe and Alessandro Troisi (both formerly Warwick Chemistry, now UCL and Liverpool respectively). In this latest work they explore the relationship between structure and energy transport on the nanoscale. In particular, they look at 50,000 different ways of arranging 6 bacteriochlorophyll molecules between a fixed input and output molecule. One such arrangement is the naturally occurring one found in the famous Fenna-Matthews-Olsen (FMO) light-harvesting complex — a prototypical component of photosynthesis. Whether the FMO has been adapted to support very efficient transport of a quantum of energy from where it is absorbed (elsewhere in the organism, eventually arriving at the 'input') to the reaction centre (the ‘output’, where it is stored as chemical energy) is a long-standing question. By looking at many alternative structures, one can gain some insight into this puzzle, and also try to identify which structural features of a general structure are important for optimising energy transport. Such insight would likely be very useful in designing artificial energy transport structures such as those found in solar cells.

With his latest publication in the New Journal of Physics (DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/aa54ab), George has proposed experimental tests which can further constrain the extent to which the wavefunction can be epistemic (and thus representing only a lack of knowledge as to the true physical state of reality).

Shibdas joins us from NUS where he was a postdoc in Mankei Tsang's group, having previously completed his PhD at the University of New South Wales, Australia. His primary research interest is in quantum measurement and control theory.

Christos, Dominic and Animesh's paper on quantum-enhanced estimation of multiple phase parameters has been published in Physical Review A. It looks at fundamental bounds on the performance of Gaussian states for estimation of multiple phase parameters and the advantage gained over multiple individual estimation strategies. The results also suggest that the optimal states for single phase estimation do not necessarily have the same performance when generalised to the estimation of multiple similar parameters.

Samuele and Jamie start their PhDs with us this week. Samuele joins us from the University of Turin. He will be working on quantum verification and is supported by the UK Quantum Technology hub NQIT. Jamie joins us from Aberystwyth University. He will be working on quantum-enhanced sensing, and is supported by the CDT on Diamond Technologies. Luke will continue his BSc project work in quantum biology on to an MSc with us.

George, along with Rudo Roemer and Gavin Morley is organising a 1-day workshop on Quantum measurement: a dialog of big and small on September 28, 2016. The set of speakers is distinguished and the day should be interesting ! To find out how to attend, please visit the website

Paper on inferring quantum correlations from limited data outputs of quantum optics experiments is published in Physical Review Letters.

Theodoros worked on his PhD with Elham Kashefi at the University of Edinburgh's School of Informatics. He completed his PhD is early 2016, and his specialisation lies in the area of verification methods for quantum computation.

Tillmann's paper on the quantum enhanced estiamtion of non-commuting phases is published in Physical Review Letters. It shows that the simultaneous estimation of all three components of a magnetic field can be better than estimating them indivdually. It presents the measurements that come close to attaining the quantum limit. Our study also reveals that too much quantum entanglement may be detrimental to attaining the Heisenberg scaling in the estimation of unitarily generated parameters.

Here is the link to a highlight on the Physics website.

George completed his PhD from Oxford with Simon Benjamin and Andrew Briggs in 2014. He then spent a year at NTT in Japan. He was awarded the very presitgious 1851 Research Fellowship in 2015.

Latest paper with Ian Walmsley's group at Oxford, studying how photon numbers can be inferred from the continuous trace outputs of superconducting transition edge sensors.

Dominic finished his undergraduate degree in Oxford, where he did a Master's project in quantum optics and quantum information.

New Journal of Physics and the Institute of Physics are delighted to recognise the outstanding contribution of Animesh Datta towards New Journal of Physics’ peer review process during 2014.

The Editorial Board acknowledges Animesh Datta among the top 5% of referees and award this certificate of recognition to mark his dedication and professional excellence within the journal.

Christos completed his PhD in Brussels last year, working with Nicolas Cerf on quantum optics and quantum information theory.

after an 18-month long refereeing progress. See here for the published version, and here for the ancient arXiv version.

Joint work with Lijian Zhang (Nanjing) and Ian Walmsley (Oxford).

The government announced £15 million towards training the next generation of quantum engineers with the creation of 'skills hubs' across the UK, working in partnership with industry to deliver career training for PhD students

The UK Government has invested £270 million in the UK National Quantum Technology Programme demonstrating its committment to create a valuable and sustainable quantum industry in the UK over the next two decades.

David Delpy, Chair of the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme Strategic Advisory Board, said: "This investment into Quantum Technologies represents the biggest single investment in a disruptive technology of the modern era. The UK has long been recognised as a world leader in quantum research, and we now have a real chance to build a solid and successful industrial base around that excellence in fundamental science and engineering. A concerted effort will allow for the creation of an industry that will deliver clear benefits back to the UK.

Read the full National Strategy for Quantum Technologies report