New Quantum Technologies Laboratory in Mexico

The Research and Advanced Studies Center (Cinvestav) has started operations of the Quantum Technologies Laboratory , where experiments on an atomic scale to develop new technologies will take place, while also keep advancing in the frontier of science.

According to a release issued by Cinvestav, understanding and controlling the quantum nature of matter is the beginning of a new scientific and technological revolution .

Mauricio López Romero, director of the Querétaro Unit

, said that this laboratory will allow researchers to test their quantum physics models , as well as giving them the possibility to generate technological platforms to solve national problems. An example of it is that this space could develop miniature sensors of great precision that mobile devices and the connections to the Internet of Things that will be needed when 5G technology is available.

“Quantum technologies are the heart of the new scientific revolution , reason why the Cinvestav, as an institution of excellence in research, has to be present in the development of these technological platforms of great relevance for the national economy ,” said the researcher.

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Some of the possible implementations are the creation and research of new quantum states of matter ; quantum simulation ; studies of physics of many bodies; the development of technologies for the transfer of information such as memories , quantum cryptography , and the development of ultra-high precision metrology , especially gravity sensors.

Karina Jiménez García

, one of the heads of this laboratory, commented that one of the objectives of the lab is to perform the first atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in Mexico; a state of matter in which all its components (atoms) are condensed in the same quantum state , the one with less energy. In these systems, atoms move really slowly; their kinetic energy corresponds to that of a system with an ultracold temperature close to absolute zero .

The new laboratory will work on scales of ultra-low energy, where atoms express their quantum nature and their states can exhibit phenomena like superposition, interference of matter waves, and quantum entanglement , which can be used to create technologies like quantum cryptography or ultra-high precision metrology.

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